Demon Games
by Flying With The Wolves
Summary: SuperWhoLock fic. Crowley and Moriarty have taken all of our favorite characters and dumped them in the Hunger Games arena. The difference is that there are much different horrors lying in wait for our heroes than forest fires and trackerjackers. The big question is: why do this? Probable Dean/Amy. Rated T because I'm not quite sure where this is all going...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: Hey there, everyone. This is my first fanifiction story being put up here. I know it's not the greatest but yeah... Anyways, This is a SuperWhoLock fic featuring all of our favorite characters. Sherlock is pre Hounds of Baskerville, Doctor Who is post Cold War (This may fluctuate, I'm not sure...) and Supernatural is post Everybody Hates Hitler. Also some AU things: Rory never existed. Just btw because of probable Dean/Amy. I may have to fill in some other things later in this list so keep a look out.**

**So basically: All of our main characters are being dumped in this wilderness at the moment. Explanations will be given later. For now, just enjoy.**

A jolt of thunder startled Amy from her sleep. She lifted her hand up to her head feeling it throbbing but discovered that her hands were bound. "Don't move." A gravelly voice advised her. She looked up to find herself staring into a very serious face.

"Where am I?" She asked in confusion. She looked around, quite confused. She seemed to be in a damp sort of cave. The wetness could be easily explained by the gallons of water that the sky was belching out on the earth below. Amy herself was slumped against one of the slimy walls while her captor was standing above her.

"You tell me." He said. He was quite handsome Amy noted absently. He had a jaw lined with stubble and was quite tall. His light brown hair was slightly spiked up although it was fairly short. Amy's well practiced eye picked up hard muscle concealed under his jacket. He could tear her apart quite easily if he put his mind to it. However, what really caught her attention were his eyes. They were the greenest green she had ever seen. They drew her in and held her there.

"You're the one who has me tied up." She held out her hands.

"Since all of my hunting gear has somehow mysteriously disappeared, I would say that I'm entitled to be suspicious of the only other person here." He squatted down and looked into her eyes. "What are you? A demon? An angel?"

"Is that your way of flirting?" Amy asked in confusion, her head still spinning. However, her Scottish fire was still bubbling just below the surface.

"Don't flatter yourself. I want to know where my brother and the angel are."

"Your brother and what now?"

"Cas. Castiel. The angel."

"Are you an alien?" This seemed the most logical explanation for Amy's sudden transfer from New York to this rainy cave.

"An alien?" From the confusion in his face, Amy assumed that he truly had no idea what she was talking about.

"Listen, I don't know where your brother is or the Casteel person is."

"Castiel."

"Whatever. I just want to find the Doctor. Can you tell me where he is?"

"There's no one here besides us." Amy groaned. Where was her Raggedy Man now?

"Well, if you untie me, we can go and look for our friends together."

"Aren't you afraid of getting wet, Princess?" He asked, eyeing her up and down.

"My name is Amy. And no I'm not afraid of getting wet. I've been in a lot worse situations with the Doctor." After a moment of thought he untied her hands.

"I'm still not sure whether or not to trust you, Princess. But since I'm all out of options we'll go with that."

"I told you, my name is Amy. Amy Pond."

He paused as though about to measure her reaction as he said, "I'm Dean."

"Are you alright?" Donna crouched over the man who was slowly becoming conscious.

"Where am I?" His voice was rough and deep. A hand was raised to his head which was probably throbbing as bad as Donna's.

"Can you sit up?" She helped him into a sitting position. "My name's Donna. What's yours?"

"Castiel." Cas was very confused as to what was going on. He had been on his way to warn Sam and Dean that Crowley was up to something. There had been a very noticeable disturbance in some of the celestial wavelengths which Cas was tuned to. When he discovered that Crowley had taken an angel, Cas decided that the best thing to do would be to enlist the help of his friends.

"Where's Dean?" Cas asked her woozily. There was something off about him. He didn't feel quite right.

"Can you remember anything before you came here?" Donna peered into his face anxiously, not really sure of what to make of all this. She had been at home before she had seen this cold red mist swirling up about her. All of a sudden, her memories of the Doctor came flooding back. It was quite overwhelming at first but it hadn't burned her brain so far although Donna was still quite worried. None of her memories as 'The Doctor-Donna' had come back so for the moment she considered herself safe.

"I was going to talk to Dean abou-" He looked up sharply. "Where's Crowley?"

"Who?" Donna's face scrunched in confusion. Cas looked around him for some hint of where he was. What he saw confused him all the more. The two of them were under a large tree with branches so thick that they blocked out the rain pouring down around them. They were at the edge of a large forest and a little bit away from them was a large horn like structure, barely visible through the torrents.

"Why can't I go anywhere?" He asked the woman. His angel powers seemed to have been deactivated somehow. He couldn't 'teleport' himself anywhere and he felt fairly sure that he couldn't smite anyone. Lastly, as he held his hand up to a small cut on the woman's forehead, he found he couldn't heal physical human wounds.

"Are you alright?" Donna held his hand to her face, unsure of what was wrong with the stranger.

"How did I get here?" Cas asked, removing his hand. He felt particularly weak and slightly nauseous.

"I just woke up here. No sign of the Doctor or anything. Just here and you were asleep." Donna sighed, wondering where her Martian was.

"What doctor?" Cas asked, either missing another of those references humans loved using or there was another person there.

"You don't know the Doctor?"

"No."

"Oh. I just sort of assumed since we got stuck here together…" Donna had long assumed that all strange people somehow knew the Doctor and this young man with the trench coat certainly seemed a little odd.

"My angel blade." Cas realized suddenly. "It's gone. Whatever put us here must be incredibly strong." He stood, coming up to her height. His stomach lurched and he grabbed it, feeling these human sensations odd.

"What's wrong?" Donna asked, wrapping an arm around his waist in concern.

"I'm not sure, but I seem to have become much more human."

Sherlock contemplated the woman in front of him. She was quite puzzling. According to his mental deduction system, this was not her original body. The way she moved, it seemed unnatural. It seemed as though she was still trying to adjust to the body she was in. He could tell from her posture that with a weapon she would be extremely dangerous.

The soles of her heels were well worn indicating that she did a lot of running. The way her blonde hair flared out indicated she was quite wild. The wide set of her eyes gave him a clue that she had a spark of insanity around her. However, she was clever. Quite clever.

"Why don't you stop looking at me and help me figure out where the hell we are." She told him. River, she had said her name was. A fittingly strange name for a strange woman, Sherlock decided.

"I don't think looking around will do much." Sherlock buttoned his jacket against the cold. He turned his collar up as she questioned why. "Because clearly whoever took us here is going to make sure I can't deduce my way out."

"Deduce?" River asked.

"I'm a consulting detective." He examined the face of the cliff they were standing under. It seemed to be natural indicating that they had traveled a long way from London. The slight rock jutting out from the face showed that their captors had placed them here purposely to keep them from the rain which was spewing out from the clouds. Clearly, their captors were rich to bring them here.

This dark man fascinated River. He seemed to have been prepared for the journey outdoors although he really would have had no way to know. He had a long coat and a blue scarf. He studied the rock face as though it would give him a vital clue as to how they had gotten here. River identified him automatically as human but that didn't mean that who or whatever brought them here had to be.

The red smoke that had pulled River from one of her archaeological digs had been technology that she had never seen before. If she had been abducted by another race it was clearly one that she had not met yet. This led River to believe either they were someone she would irritate in the future or they were picking a fight with the one man who would be able to tear apart galaxies to get to her.

The Doctor.

"Where's my gun?" She asked him, not putting it past him to have taken her gun when she wasn't watching.

"Mine seems to be gone as well." He didn't even check his pockets. He only continued to examine the wall.

"Well, Sherlock," the names still tasted funny in her mouth but she supposed she would learn to deal with it. "we need to find a way out."

"Why bother? Anyone with enough power to take us this far from London isn't going to let us get away that easily."

"Hey, are you okay?" A gentle voice asked. Charlie rubbed her head as she opened her eyes. There in front of her was a man dressed in a long coat with short brown hair. He had a very cheesy grin and was checking her head for a lump.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"Not sure. Someone seems to have stolen my tec. But not to worry, I can get us out of here fine."

"Are you a friend of Sam and Dean?" Charlie asked, thinking automatically that when something like this happened there had to be something supernatural involved.

"I'm sorry but I have no idea who you're talking about." He helped her into a sitting position.

"You're not a hunter?" This came as a surprise to Charlie. He had the same dangerous look in the back of his eye as Sam and Dean had. Charlie had automatically associated this look with the job of a hunter.

"I'm from Torchwood. Ever heard of it?" Charlie shook her head. "Good. Now, we have to find the Doctor."

"Who?"

"A friend. I'm sure he's behind this somewhere. Can you stand?" He assisted her in standing before shaking her hand, a toothy grin spreading across his face. "Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?"

"Not my type." She told him plainly. "But, Charlie."

"Good to meet you Charlie."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes: So, I'm updating this chapter just because in the last chapter there wasn't really any plot set up as it's all introductions at this point. Some action will actually happen in the chapters coming up so don't worry. I'll try to update again on Sunday but with the grandparents coming up that's still if-y. Thanks for the lovely reviews also! Anyways, last introductions to our contestants: Enjoy!**

"Now just hold still." Clara's head spun rapidly. Her vision was blurry so she couldn't recognize the face in front of her. "Now I need you to tell me your name. Can you do that?" Clara tried to say something, anything, but the room lurched around her. "Alright, take it easy. You've got a bit of a cut on your head."

Clara reached out to clutch the arm of whoever was supporting her. "Doctor?" she managed to get out, hoping against hope that it would be him.

"No, I work with Scotland Yard. My name is Detective Inspector Lestrade." None of this made any impression on Clara's brain, she was still too sick.

"Clara."

"Well Clara, do you have any idea where we are?" Clara looked around her, the hazy surroundings coming slowly into view. They were in some kind of gigantic metal structure with an enormous open hole that showed a forest beyond it. The rain was pouring down outside, creating an incredible amount of noise on the metal shell.

As Clara shook her head, Lestrade's confusion grew. Where on earth could they be? This was clearly a long way from London judging by the large ancient tree sitting across their grassy 'front yard' and the enormous lake beside it. The only clue was this strange girl that was almost too incoherent to speak.

"Don't worry, Clara. I'm going to find a way out of here as soon as the rain lets up. We're going to be fine." Clara couldn't respond because the ground started swooping again. She would simply have to trust in this copper, whoever he was.

* * *

"Get off of me." Irene pushed the floppy haired man away from her, not needing his help. He looked a little distraught as he was only trying to help.

"I'm the Doctor." He said, adjusting his bowtie. His eyes darted all over the place, looking for his precious blue box. He had checked this strange woman for signs of concussion and she seemed fine. Now his main concern was finding the TARDIS.

"Doctor what?" the woman asked. She pulled herself up out of tall grass to examine this doctor man. He seemed to be looking for something but whatever it was, it was nowhere near them in the tall grasses. Irene looked up at the clear blue sky, grateful it wasn't pouring rain down on them. As she looked farther on, she could see massive rain clouds hanging down just around a half mile away. They seemed to be stationary for the moment as well as quite violently soaking the earth.

"Just the Doctor." With the TARDIS nowhere in sight, the Doctor was getting a bit nervous. He had no idea of what to do next so he did what he always did when he was clueless. He reached for his sonic screwdriver. However, to his extreme alarm, it was missing. Recovering quickly, he asked the woman. "And you are?"

"Irene."

"Well, Irene, this certainly tastes like Earth. Although a little bit different. A bit more metallic. Almost as though it's an artificial earth."

"What are you talking about?" The Doctor continued on, heedless of what she was saying.

"Now, I suggest since my ride and my screwdriver are missing we go towards the clouds."

"Why?"

"That's where all the action is. What do you say, wanna come on an adventure?" Irene stared at his extended hand. Moving past him, she continued on her own, not being the damsel in distress she thought he was making her out to be. The Doctor, sort of let the grin drop off of his face. Clearly this woman was going to be a bit difficult. He followed her, keeping a sharp eye out for the trouble which always seemed to find him.

* * *

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Yeah, just my head hurts a bit." Rose rubbed the back of her head as she pulled herself into a sitting position. She took in her surroundings quickly. She was at the edge of a lake and a very short distance away it was raining buckets. However, where she sat it was as clear as day. She had propped herself up on the sandy beach and a small seashell was cutting into her hand. "How did I get here?" she wondered out loud.

"Got me." Rose turned to find a massive man beside her. He towered over her while they were sitting and she hated to imagine how big he would be when they stood. He had long brown hair and was extremely muscular. His eyes, however, were big and soft. They had kindness in them though that seemed to be getting drowned by incredible amounts of sorrow.

"You don't recognize the place?" The man asked her. She shook her head, wondering if this man could be some sort of alien. A Slitheen maybe, he certainly had the height for it. However, the red smoke that had taken her wasn't characteristic of Raxacoricofallapatorius. Nor did it match up with anything she had dealt with or even heard of. That didn't mean though that it wasn't alien.

"My name is Sam. What's yours?"

"Rose."

"Well, Rose, don't worry. I'm going to get us out of here safely." He got up and helped her to her feet. Rose gulped internally. He was certainly one of the tallest people she had ever met.

"Don't worry about me, chap. I can take care of myself. I head up Torchwood. I can certainly handle another of these little trips."

"I'm sorry, but are we near Britain?" Sam asked, picking up on her strong accent. He was trying to pick up any clue at all from her. However, they could be in Africa and this woman could be possessed by a demon and dragged this meat suit down here just to confuse him. On the other hand, maybe she was just a strong British woman that had no clue what was going on.

"How should I know?" Rose picked up on his American accent, reminded suddenly of Jack. She shook off the feeling and peered into the curtain of rain, trying to pick out something that would give her a landmark point of reference.

"My gun is gone." Sam realized, looking up at the woman to judge her reaction. She also checked her pockets.

"My sonic is gone." She didn't like this one bit. Her Doctor had made that for her. It had been the only connection to her normal life. Not to mention it was a useful tool that had saved her butt more times than she cared to count.

"Your what?" Sam's face contorted slightly in confusion. What was this woman talking about? A sudden thought struck him. "Where's Dean? Dean! Dean!" He began shouting his brother's name, hoping desperately for the gravelly voice to shout back 'Sammy!' but there was only silence. He tried instead shouting for Cas but to no avail.

"Who are those guys?" Rose asked, seeing his disappointment when no one answered. "Dean is my brother. Cas is an angel."

"An angel?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I bet he's behind this. Another one of those stupid angel tests."

"Look, mate, I think you had better sit down. You're talking nonsense."

"No, I've got to find Dean." Sam was about to brush past her towards the rain cloud when she caught his shoulder and stopped him.

"Listen, there's only the two of us here. We need to stick together. We can go look for Dean and your angel but we need to stay together. You don't know what's out there." Sam looked down at this woman. She was strong in more ways than one. Generally the only people he saw like this were hunters but there was something about her that said she would try to reason with a creature sooner than kill it. This eliminated hunter but perhaps she still knew about the supernatural.

"If Dean is out there, he's going to be looking for me. Trust me, you don't want to get in my brother's way when he's looking for me." Rose looked him up and down. If this big man was warning about his brother, Rose wasn't really sure she wanted to meet this 'Dean' character.

"We'll go find him. _Together_." She stressed the word to ensure he understood. Sam opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a booming voice ringing out of the sky.

"Ladies and gentlemen, aliens and moose welcome to the arena." A British man's voice surrounded them, nearly deafening them.

"You recognize that voice?" Sam asked Rose, removing his hands from his ears. Rose shook her head. "Me neither."

"I'd like to invite you all to a little meeting at the Cornucopia to explain what is going to go down here. Please everyone attend for soon you will be given your choice of weapons taken straight off your person." Sam and Rose glanced at each other. "We will meet in two hours. Please come quickly and orderly and please, no killing."

* * *

"Killing?" Martha asked in wonder. What kind of a place was this? She had dealt with some bizarre things in her day but this was taking the cake. The blonde man who said his name was John had gone slightly pale beside her. "What is it?" she asked, her immediate response as a doctor kicking in.

"That was Moriarty's voice." John Watson was not taking this whole scenario very well.

"Moriarty?" Martha asked, not quite picking up what he was trying to say.

"He's a criminal mastermind. He runs the underground of London and you would not believe how insane he is." John rubbed his head anxiously. Where was Sherlock? If Moriarty was around, Sherlock was bound to be here somewhere.

"Well, this Moriarty guy said we should go to the Cornucopia, whatever that is." Martha peered out into the drizzle, fairly confident that whatever it was, she'd be able to find it.

"In this rain?" John asked. He had been in some tight spots before, but he couldn't believe that this woman wanted to go out in such a violent thunderstorm.

Almost on cue, the rain stopped and the sun began to shine. The two of them peered out from beneath the branches of the tree they were under to see that all clouds had vanished from the sky and that the ground was barely damp. Martha knew that whatever they were dealing with would require extreme caution because it was clearly a powerful being.

"What rain?" Martha grinned at the other doctor. She pulled him out from under the tree. The forest they were in seemed to thin out to their right. Martha pointed this out and the two began hiking that way. They encountered no other living souls on the moderate trek.

When they broke past the tree line, Martha immediately discovered what the Cornucopia was. It was a giant horn shaped metal structure gleaming golden in the new sunlight. Its back was toward them and Martha figured that they had to go around to the front of it. John kept looking around as they went, partially looking for Sherlock and partially looking for any signs of danger.

"So, this Moriarty guy is from London, yeah?" Martha tried to confirm.

"Yeah, he's basically king of London."

"Well then, why am I here?" John gave her a confused look. "Don't get me wrong, mate. I lived in London most of my life but I moved to America with my boyfriend Mickey a couple years back. Why would I be of interest to him?"

"Who knows why Moriarty does anything?" John glanced at the tree line ahead of him. He had thought that he had seen something move but perhaps he was wrong. Or perhaps there was something there, waiting until all the groups had made their way to the Cornucopia. Something under Moriarty's control. Something deadly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: Another Sunday = Another Chapter. Once I get past/recover from finals this week maybe I'll start posting on sundays and thursdays because I have nothing to do with myself except write... It's true. :( Nothing except tumblr. Alright, at this point we know who all the partners are so if you want to start sending in who you're betting on winning go for it. Rules for winning will be explained next chapter but if anyone wants to start making early bets then go ahead._ Send them in to me because I'm dying to know what you think!_ Also a thank you for the lovely reviews you send in. Reviews are love so send in your love!** **So here we are: Chapter Three!**

"Alright, where the hell are we?" Sam wondered as he and Rose came close to the Cornucopia. Rose didn't respond. Sam had been wondering things aloud for the past 20 minutes it had taken to get here. Personally, Rose thought he was getting a bit annoying+.

"Look! There are other people!" Rose suddenly tuned in to what the big man was saying. He pointed out across the grass at the horn structure. He was right! There were some people standing around the horn in clusters. Rose's pulse quickened as she glanced up at Sam. Then, at the same instant, they both broke for the horn.

As Rose got closer, she spotter a familiar face. "Martha!" she yelled, sprinting for the dark woman. The woman turned around and a smile grew on her lovely face.

"Rose!" The two women hugged briefly. Though they had not known each other long, there was something about being a companion of the Doctor that brought two people together. "Oh my god, how did you get here?"

"Don't know. I just woke up on the beach over there with Sam." Rose glanced back towards the big man who was coming up to the pair of them.

"Sam?" Martha looked past the blonde towards the brown haired giant. "I think I've met a friend of yours."

Sam quickly joined the pair of women. "Dean? Have you seen him?" Sam's eyes quickly scanned the vicinity for his brother's strong form.

"No but I have a guy who says he knows a Sam Winchester. That would be you I presume. You certainly match the description." Martha looked Sam up and down. He was good looking with dark green eyes and pushed back brown hair.

"Where is he?" Sam asked, impatient to find whoever this was.

"He's in a lot of pain so I left him by the trees." Sam immediately turned and went for the woods, followed by Martha who called out "Oi!" As Sam neared the tree line he saw the figure he wanted to see second most at that point.

"Cas!" He ran up to the slumped angel who had since lost the strength to stand since around ten minutes after the announcement.

"Sam." There was relief in the deep voice but also something else. Weakness. Sam gripped the arm of his friend.

"Cas, what's wrong?"

"My power. It's gone." Cas's eyes had fear in them, hidden behind a mask of bravery.

"Do you know him?" Another voice brought Sam to his feet, quite startled. A red headed woman was near another of the trees, watching them.

"Sam, this is Donna. She's making sure I'm alright." Cas dropped his eyes to the ground as though ashamed of being weak in front of a stranger. "Have you seen Dean?"

"No, I thought he would be here."

"I've had that woman, Martha, looking for him. He hasn't been here yet." Sam looked over at the woman in the white coat who was talking to Rose.

"Who are these people?" Sam asked, looking at the other people in the little clearing. This time, Donna came forward and began talking to Sam.

"That woman over there is Clara. She doesn't seem to know anyone here." Sam looked at the tiny girl who was sitting at the mouth of the Cornucopia watching two men talking nearby her. "Those two are Lestrade and John. John came with Martha. He says he was an army doctor like her." She pointed at the shorter blonde man as she said this. "Lestrade works with the police. You've met Martha and Rose. And, oh look, more people."

Sam was disappointed when neither of the faces coming from the other side of the hill were his brother's. Instead there was a man with no eyebrows and a woman wearing an extremely tight dress. Clara, however, seemed to recognize one of them because she immediately got up and bolted over to them. Lestrade, noticing this, followed her with his gaze. John also saw this and he said something under his breath as he walked towards the pair coming to the horn.

"I wonder who they are." Donna said under her breathe as the three in the trees watched this new reunion.

"Doctor!" Clara gasped as she arrived. She threw herself into his arms, breathless with relief at a familiar face.

"Oh, good old Clara. Glad to see you made it in one piece." He pinched her cheeks to which she made a face. John, in this brief interlude, made it over to the three of them.

"Well, you're here then." He said to Irene, not really sure of how else to greet her.

"A little bit of a warm welcome should be in order. " She said to him, wrapping her arms about her in the cold breeze that picked up.

"After you tried to kill Sherlock and passed on secret information to the terrorists?" he gave a patronized smile and shook his head in anger.

"You don't seem very surprised that I'm alive." She cocked her head, trying to figure out why this would be.

"Sherlock doesn't keep secrets as well as he thinks he does." John said, submerged in a sudden concern for his best friend.

Irene said nothing, merely looking past the Cornucopia at the tree line. From it were emerging two figures. One had bouncy blonde curls and the other was tall and dark. The Doctor's eyes widened when he saw the woman. "River, River, River." He said, half impressed and half concerned. As the two came towards them, John decided he couldn't wait any longer and began walking toward Sherlock, followed by the other three, including Clara who was confused by what was going on.

"John." Sherlock said simply, as though they were meeting casually at the entrance to their flat. This irritated John but he simply drew Sherlock off, trailed by Irene, as Sherlock began to tell what he had learned so far.

"Hello, sweetie." River raised her eyebrow at her husband.

"Alright, where are we?" The Doctor asked.

"You asked me if I was married." River smiled at him. Though she wouldn't admit it, she felt much safer with the Doctor around. He had a way of making everything turn out alright that kept River feeling calm.

"Alright, so just after Amy ran away with me in the TARDIS the second time."

"Who?" Clara asked, not able to keep up with the conversation.

"Oh, how rude of me! Clara, River. River, Clara."

"Good to meet you Clara." The older woman smiled at her and Clara smiled back hesitantly. There was something slightly off about this woman that Clara didn't like at all.

"How do you know the Doctor?" Clara looked up at Chin Boy but his face had drained of color as he looked behind River. Clara looked also. There was a red haired woman coming up to the trio.

"River!" she said, coming up to them.

"I'm sorry, have we met?" River was drawing a blank on who this woman could be. Perhaps they met in the future. However, the Doctor seemed to know her. His mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"You alright, mate?" Donna asked him.

"You remember her?" The Doctor's head was reeling. There should be no possible way that Donna knew River. He himself had made sure of that.

"Yeah, now have you seen the Doctor? I'm sure he has to be around here somewhere and I have to figure out why I can remember everything."

"I'm the Doctor."

"Yeah, right, sorry mate." Donna laughed. How did this shrimpy little guy with no eyebrows think that he was the Doctor?

"No, really, it's me. I regenerated!" Donna stared at him in astonishment. Clearly they had catching up to do.

* * *

"Are we almost there yet?" Amy groaned. They had been walking for over an hour and Dean had hardly said a word to her since they left the cave.

"Keep your skirt on, Princess. We're almost there." Dean had mostly assumed that they were taking the right path. They hadn't seen another living being since leaving and Amy was starting to be just baggage. He still didn't trust her in the least though, so he had to bring her along. He didn't want anyone creeping up on him.

They were approaching a clearing in the forest and with relief, the two of them moved forward quickly. There were roughly a dozen people splayed out on the grass, talking to one another. Some were relaxed while some were quite on the alert. "Sammy!" Dean yelled out, concern for his brother boiling up.

A giant figure closer to where Dean was turned and, seeing his brother, came towards him quickly. The two of them smacked together in a relieved embrace. "Is Cas here?" Dean asked, looking around for the familiar trench coat.

"Sort of." Sam's husky voice answered. Dean gave him a look and Sam pointed over towards the group he had just been sitting with. Dean's eyes picked out Cas's windswept hair and walked over to see the angel.

"You alright, Cas?" Dean asked, crouching down next to him.

"My angel powers seem to be missing." Castiel confided in him immediately.

"Your mojo's gone?" Dean whispered harshly. There went his escape plan out the window. Now he had to find another way to get the three of them out of here.

"Well boys and girls and moose, gather around." A voice boomed from inside the cornucopia. Sherlock, John, Irene, and Lestrade all recognized the voice immediately as Moriarty. However, Sam and Dean also exchanged looks. 'Moose?' Dean mouthed. Sam shrugged and the group of sixteen moved to the mouth of the horn.

There was a fizzle of electricity in the air before a black and white image of Moriarty appeared in the mouth of the horn. He grinned sarcastically, looking over the majority of them.

"Who are you?" Sam asked, irritated by all of this.

"Don't you recognize me, Moosey?" The image looked down at itself. "I forgot about this." The image quickly switched to color. "I'm wearing a new suit." A red film crept up over the dark eyes of Moriarty's body. Sam and Dean tensed.

"Crowley."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: Another chapter. You guys are so spoiled with getting two chapters a day. But I have nothing better to do then write this piece of crap some of you seem to enjoy reading. Another chapter is coming Sunday so watch for it! With exams ending tomorrow I'll have even more time to write and then I'll be 70 billion chapters ahead of what i post. Keep making bets on who's going to win whether you do it in your head or directly to me! Enjoy Chapter Four!**

"The one and only." The red film crept back until they were looking at the eyes of Moriarty. "Now everyone shut up so I can talk." Suddenly, the group found themselves unable to speak. "Alright then. You see, I sliced up a little angel over in my world and in him I found the power to shift through dimensions. It's a very deep power and little known to the angels. It's still there though.

"When I shifted through the dimensions I found all this lovely stuff. Stuff I could easily use to take over our world. But I thought to myself, this is so much more fun. To drop the Winchester boys and their pet angel into an arena filled with unimaginable horrors. Then I met Jim here. He showed me all these wonderful worlds.

"The most appealing one I found was this one. This arena was used for pitting children against each other in a death match fight called the 'Hunger Games'. Jim and I decided to recycle the arena. Only this time instead of idiot children fighting, we'd out in some of the universe's best and brightest. We've got the brains, the guts, and the muscle. Thus, the Demon Games were born.

"Now, the rules are that anything goes as far as killing. Here are the ways you can win: You and your team mate, a.k.a. the people you woke up and walked here with, are the last people standing, everyone from the other two universes are dead, or simply the last man (or woman) standing. Jim and I have decided to throw in some trickier obstacles as well, so keep an eye out for those, although I don't think you could miss them.

"Now for some other details. Castiel, we've taken away most of your angel juice. No smiting or teleporting or anything like that. Although I'd still be impressed by anything that can kill you because you still have the essence of an angel. Doctor, I wouldn't be checking on your regeneration abilities too fast. Jim and I haven't decided whether or not you should keep it. Pretty boy Jack, Rose may have brought you back in another world but here you are perfectly killable. Good luck. Oh, and I'd grab your weapons quickly because the first wave of monsters are on their way. Happy hunting."

The image of Crowley/Moriarty vanished. The groups all stared at each other, unsure of what to do. Were they really going to kill each other because a demon said so? And what monsters? What about the weapons? A hissing sound caught their attention. Rising from under the grass was a pile of all their weapons. In the pile they could see the sonic screwdrivers, the guns, and the blades.

Just as they were about to go for the weapons, however, a snarling caught their attention. Running from the woods were half a dozen massive wolves and they were all headed directly for the sixteen weaponless people. The hunters reacted quickly, jumping forward and scooping up every weapon that they could. Sherlock, John, and Martha were just a few moments behind them, grabbing everything in reach. The others followed a moment too late as the wolves reached them and began to tear at them.

Amy found herself pinned under a giant brown wolf with only a canister of water in hand. "Doctor!" she screamed automatically. Its hot breath ruffled her hair as it roared in her face. Then the beast went stiff and fell heavily on top of her. "Doctor?" Amy's head whipped around, looking for some sign of her Raggedy Man.

Strong hands pulled her back from under the creature and she stumbled into the pile. Something sharp cut her hand and she gripped it tightly as a potential weapon. There was even more gruff snarling from behind her but she was yanked around and pulled towards the now inviting forest. As she was pulled around, she saw that her savior was not her Doctor as she had expected, but the ever puzzling Dean Winchester. "Come on!" his rough voice commanded her.

As Dean pulled the red head towards safety, his brother had taken a paw-full of claws to the face. Blood dripped into his eyes and mouth and a heavy paw was placed on his waist to keep him from moving. Then the weight vanished, accompanied by a blast of heat. He wiped the blood from his eyes to see Rose holding an enormous gun. "We need to get out of here." She commanded, trying to help him up but not succeeding because of his extreme weight advantage. Sam grabbed the first thing in the pile that his hand landed on and followed the swinging blonde hair towards the trees, trying to see through the red liquid oozing down his face.

Castiel had been quick to reach the pile, taking his cues from Dean as he always did. He was able to snatch up the brothers' demon blade before plunging it into the eye socket of the wolf chasing him. He ripped it out violently and the beast wandered off, whimpering in agony. He cast his gaze around for his 'partner', Donna.

Donna stood, horrified, as she watched the young man she had just recently been watching over plunge a knife into the eye socket of one of the beasts. Blood shot out, covering the face of the brown haired man. The creature stumbled away whimpering and Donna felt a pang of pity for it. Castiel was then beside her, pulling her away. But Donna held back, worried about the creature despite it having been trying to kill people.

"We have to go." Cas's harsh voice tried to bring her back to reality.

"What about the wolf?" Donna asked, looking as it shambled blindly around.

"We can't worry about that know, come on." Cas pulled her towards the lake, determined to save her no matter what kind of argument she put up.

"What about everyone else?" Donna watched as a couple of the other groups ran from the wolves while the others struggled to find some weapons.

"Come on!" Cas continued pulling her, confused by her human stubbornness to stay despite her almost certain death. Donna let herself be reluctantly pulled away, knowing that there was nothing she could do this time but was determined to come back later.

* * *

The group consisting of Sherlock, River, Irene, and the Doctor attempted to salvage what was left of the weapons pile. River, attaining her gun that she had stolen sometime in the 25th century, shot one of the beasts between the eyes. It collapsed in a heap of smoldering ash. However, River's gun beeped to let her know that she had a max of ten shots left.

"No, don't shoot them!" The Doctor protested, pulling a sonic out of the pile.

"What else do you want me to do?" River shouted over the sound of Sherlock firing a bullet at the wolf's skull.

"The skull is too hard for a bullet to penetrate." Irene noted, pocketing Dean's handgun as Sherlock's bullet fell to the earth after barely having scratched the shaggy surface of the wolf's fur.

"John!" Sherlock shouted, running away from the three of them. They immediately followed, the wolf on their heels, snapping viciously. Sherlock was sprinting towards the blonde doctor who was helping Martha to her feet. Martha clutched her side, wincing in pain.

"Martha!" The Doctor's eyes widened as he saw the young doctor. Martha, of course, didn't recognize him. She did, however, have a backpack with a pentagram and some odd squiggles printed on it. Beside them lay another hound from hell, bleeding out from the stomach. Sherlock, realizing what had happened, immediately turned and shot the beast following them in the soft underside. It collapsed with a yelp that drew the attention of its pack mates.

More wolves were running from the trees to join the impossible fight. The one Sherlock's hound had alerted soonest jumped, roaring, into the middle of the running group. Sherlock and River, the faster runners, were caught on one side while the Doctor and Irene were caught on the other. The hound jumped at the dark haired pair.

"Run!" The Doctor pulled Irene away, heading towards the grassy lands from where they had come. The wolf, sensing some invisible presence on the edge of the hill, prowled the perimeter of their hideout. Despite the fact that the Doctor wanted to help, Irene wouldn't let him go back for the others.

Sherlock and River had their own hands full with three more hounds surrounding them. Sherlock worked it so that their backs were against the golden surface of the Cornucopia, a strategic advantage. River fired another couple of shots, but more wolves replaced the ones that had been downed. "What do we do?" River asked, unsure of how they could escape.

Sherlock, without a word, picked her up and tossed her as high as he could. She landed with a smack on the golden surface of the horn and managed to get a grip on the edge before climbing to the top. She fired another shot into the midst of the wolves, causing them to back up as she gripped Sherlock's hand and pulled him up to join her. The wolves snarled at the edge for a moment before going off in search of easier prey.

"What have we got?" River asked shortly, a little out of breath from the tense moment.

"I have a gun and this bag." Sherlock held up a small pouch.

"What's in it?" His long, slender fingers undid the clasp and Sherlock's confusion grew.

"It's salt."

"Salt?" Sherlock nodded in acknowledgment and they sat back, thinking that this was going to be a long game. River turned her attention to the battle below where the rest of the stragglers were attempting to flee into the woods.

* * *

Jack pulled Charlie safely into the edge of the woods. They had stayed together, a little apart from the others because they hadn't immediately seen anyone they recognized. When the group had come together, of course, Jack had picked out Martha, Rose, Donna and such and Charlie had spotted Sam and Dean. But by then it was too late to say hi. Jack had scooped up a backpack of supplies before literally throwing an uncooperative Charlie over his shoulder and bolting towards the woods.

"What about my boys?" Charlie asked indignantly, as Jack put her down.

"If they're smart then they'll be gone by now. If you want to find them, the best way to do it will be on the move. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to kill just yet." Charlie nodded. Her face was pale from all the excitement and her hands were visibly trembling with fear. Jack noticed this and gave a little ironic smile.

"What?" Charlie asked, pulling her arms around her in the chill breeze.

"Nothing. It's just you look a little cold." Charlie shrugged. He took her elbow and unwrapped from around her chest. He held her cold hand with his warm strong one. It wasn't a romantic gesture; Jack wasn't into much of the slow relationship stuff. It was a comforting, steadying hand. It was a hand to help her over the fallen log in front of her. Charlie didn't let go of his hand for a long time. Right now, she needed all the support she could get.

* * *

"Breathe." John supported the young doctor under her arm. As Martha's clever fingers probed her side she estimated she had two broken ribs, maybe three, as well as a lovely lump on her head. The hound had smacked her violently with its tail when John had shouted at it. She had crashed into the Cornucopia head first and landed on her already cracked ribs. The backpack she had grabbed had fallen uselessly beside her, not cushioning her fall in the least.

A bang had silenced the vile beast and John was quickly beside her. Martha first grabbed the backpack, knowing that whatever was in it had to be valuable. "John!" Martha saw through blurry eyes the form of four people running toward them as she began to stand. Then more of the beasts were attacking and whoever had been coming to help was either dead or not coming back.

"Can you walk?" John asked, his voice distorted and high pitched in her disoriented mind. She stumbled with his aid towards the trees that she perceived as a swirling mass. Eventually, with the hounds threatening to come back for them, John simply picked her up and carried her from the site. He had slung the backpack over his own shoulder and it was taking every ounce of his strength to carry the both of them.

"Are you alright?" Lestrade asked Clara who was bent over and breathing heavily.

"A little short of breath is all." She assured him in between gasps.

"Well, at least we got away from all that." As soon as the hounds had come charging in, Lestrade had grabbed Clara's arm and forced her to run for the woods, knowing that neither of them had the training or ability to take on a wolf even half that size. They had escaped without a scratch but unfortunately they also had no weapons whatsoever.

"Don't worry, Clara. We just need to get some food and stay clear of those wolves."

"But that Crowley man, he said there are going to be other horrors and what better place to hide them then the woods? I mean, almost all of us are in here and there are hundreds of trees to hide behind…" Clara looked with wide eyes around her. What was going to happen to them all?


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes: This weekend has been incredibly long. I've been tearing my hair out trying to survive all the social events. But, no need to know about my, you guys don't really care about all that. So, enjoy the chapter and remember to review! Nothing makes me happier than reading your comments! Read on!**

Sam's breath hissed in through his teeth as Rose cleaned the blood from his ragged flesh. They had found a secluded rock alongside a river in the forest where Rose was using the water to mop up the mess that was Sam's face. Her shirt was torn to make the strip of cloth she was using. Sam had sustained plenty of worse injuries so he didn't make that much of a fuss. He looked down at his hand which was still clenched tightly around whatever he had picked up.

It was a book. It was a small book bound in black leather. He smiled, agitating the wounds on his face. This was his kind of weapon. He wiped the blood off the tips of his fingers onto his jeans. He flipped through the pages and found, to his delight, that it detailed an incredible amount of the monsters that would be in the arena. His eyes crinkled in thought as he read a page.

"This could be a problem." He said, reading through the page.

"What?" Rose dipped the cloth back into the water. The cloth was already soaked in blood but Rose continued to use it.

"It says that there will be these tests. We'll be transported into a fake world where your partner will guide you through a mission. If you win then you will be allowed to live and if you fail then either you or your partner will be killed." Sam's face wrinkled in pain as Rose pressed the cold cloth back against his gashes.

"Sounds dangerous." Rose noted, examining the now clean cuts. She began to rip the bottom of her shirt for more cloth strips.

"Don't do that." Sam rebuked her, stopping her with a hand. He instead began to tear his own undershirt which was visible under his warm jacket and flannel shirt.

"So you can do it and I can't?" Rose was a little indignant at this rebuttal.

"I have more layers than you. We have no idea how cold nights are around here or how close to winter." He began stuffing the extra strips into his coat in case the bleeding resumed anew.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough if the nights are cold." Rose noted, looking up at the dimming sky. She knew he was right about this whole layers thing so she didn't press the issue.

"We need to find some place warm to hole up for the night." Sam cast his glance around, unsure of what direction to go in.

"What about there?" Rose asked, pointing to a large tree. Its roots created a cocoon just slightly underneath the tree that would provide a little bit of warmth and was big enough for the both of them.

"That'll work. We're also going to need food." Sam's survival instincts were beginning to kick in and his only thoughts were of surviving the night.

"What about your brother?" Rose asked, helping him up on the rock that was slippery with his blood. They stumbled through a shallow patch in the river through the trees shortly to the hollowed tree. Rose put her gun into the hollow and Sam hid the book filled with lifesaving knowledge under a pile of crunchy leaves.

"If he doesn't want to be found, he won't be. If we bump into him we can team up, but until then, we'd better keep a low profile. We don't want to attract Crowley's attention."

* * *

"Where are they going?" River asked as she watched the wolves slink back into the forest.

"There's no prey here. They're going to hunt the people in the forest. They must need a large food source to fuel their massive bodies." Sherlock observed, looking for the best way down from the horn.

"No, I don't think so." She said absently, walking to the edge. There was something else about the way they walked. Their movements weren't the moves of a creature driven by hunger or fear. They just walked with no motivation to do anything as if…

"They came to divide us." Sherlock affirmed her suspicions. He stuffed the bag of salt into his pocket, guessing that there had to be some purpose behind it or it never would have been in the pile. He stuck the gun in beside the pouch before sliding off the edge of the horn. River slid off after him and he caught her on the way down.

As Sherlock put River on her feet, River looked around at the grass which just moments ago had been a battle field. There was the deep red blood of the wolves still leaking out of the corpses as well as a lighter red where the humans had bled. There were bloody foot prints leading away from the battle ground into the forest. River sighed. It was a ghastly sight.

Sherlock in the meantime, went to go and see if there was anything he could salvage from the pile. There was a canister which sloshed full of water as he swilled it around, a long silver knife which almost felt warm in his hand, another gun, and a few more bags of salt. Interesting weapons but Sherlock knew they would be useful eventually and so began to throws them into an empty pack.

"What are you doing?" River asked, watching him pack up the rest of the supplies.

"We're going to get on the move." Sherlock stated, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Obviously the two of them needed to get moving.

"What about my husband?" River demanded, anxious to find him.

"The Doctor? He'll just have to wait. You heard the demon and Moriarty. This is a killing game. While I don't think any of you would murder in normal life, this isn't normal life. I don't want to be caught in the open with a normal person gone mad coming after us with salt and guns." Sherlock threw the pack at her. He had packed so he didn't have to carry it. River, nimble as always, caught it and slung it over her shoulder.

"We need to find water." He said, moving past her.

"What about the lake?" River asked, thinking that they could set up a stronghold there.

"Too exposed. We'll find a stream." Without waiting for a response, Sherlock moved past her and into the woods. River, still sighing, followed.

* * *

"I really don't think this is a good idea." The Doctor told his partner.

"Why not?" Irene asked, stepping over a fallen branch. She had her gun in her hand constantly. Her riding crop had gone missing from the pile and she had not been able to retrieve it. However, the gun would probably do just as well in the long run and perhaps better. She had insisted on bringing the Doctor from their safe haven of the long grasses to the edge of the woods to hunt for food. The Doctor was adamant about killing animals so they searched instead for some berries. Irene knew, however, that the berries wouldn't keep them going in the long run.

"We should be looking for the TARDIS. She can't have gone far." The Doctor wished greatly that his box was here. He wanted to hear her purr underneath the steady guidance of his hand. He wanted to get endlessly lost in the miles upon miles of corridors that twisted up in her belly. He missed her more than words could describe.

"Your box won't be much help, Doctor." Irene wasn't sure what to make of his fairy story that he had a blue box that was bigger on the inside. She had, apparently, already met a demon this morning and that made her a little more receptive to the unusual. The wolves had also done a lot to shake some belief into her.

"She could get all of us out of here and safe in a moment." The Doctor countered, not understanding why she didn't agree.

"Shhhh." She hushed him, hearing a sound far off to her left. The Doctor however, let out an exclamation of delight as he spotted a berry bush. He examined the berries for poison with his sonic before popping a few into his mouth. They were blueberries and they instantly stained his mouth. He gave Irene a big blue grin and a thumbs-up. She stared at him a moment before commanding him to stay put and pick berries while she went in search of what had made that noise.

The Doctor continued picking and eating while stuffing some into his bigger-on-the-inside pockets. These would be a delightful snack but the Doctor knew, of course, that it wouldn't be enough to sustain the pair of them for an indefinite time. He was counting on figuring a way out before that.

His head swiveled suddenly as he heard a twig snap. He caught the image of a human figure walking quickly in the trees. The Doctor shrugged and continued to stuff the berries in his pocket, the color painfully reminding him of his box. He was caught up in a fantasy about landing the TARDIS in a gigantic berry grove when he heard a gunshot.

The Doctor was off running through the trees as fast as he possibly could. He prayed that Irene hadn't shot any harmless creatures. He really hoped that she hadn't shot one of these fantastic whistling birds that were shooting around above him in the trees. All he could see of them were black and white streaks but whenever he hummed they quickly picked up the melody.

However, the scene he saw when he entered the grove was much more gruesome and heartbreaking. Instead of an animal lying dead at Irene's feet there was a body. A head with a bullet hole straight through it. A girl with thin brown hair, big eyes and an easy smile.

Irene had shot Clara.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes: Sorry about dear little Clara everyone. It was hard for me to write but I had to kick start some plot points. I know everyone is broken up about Clara but what's done is done so let's look forward to this chapter which consists of The Doctor/ Irene, Donna/Cas, and Jack/Charlie. I'd also like to make the announcement that after next week Thursday's update I'm going to be gone for a couple of weeks. So just because I adore everyone who reads this, I'll be holding a contest starting Sunday when I put up the next chapter. I'll tell you more about it then. So until next Sunday: Enjoy!**

"What have you done?" The Doctor yelled, running to Clara. He scooped up the fragile body in his strong arms. Her face was frozen in an expression of shock and her eyes were glassily reflecting the brilliant setting sun above them.

"Look, Doctor. If we want to start winning this game then we need to start taking out the competition." Irene defended herself. She saw no problem with shooting the girl. It would send a message to the other players that she meant business. None of this mushy trying to work it out crap. She was playing to win.

The Doctor sank to his knees with the limp body in his arms. "Clara." He whispered, pulling a strand of hair back from the trail of blood trickling down her nose. "I was supposed to bring her home safe. I was supposed to protect her. She wasn't supposed to die again." He pulled her close, hoping to hear a heartbeat still struggling valiantly on. His hope was futile. No human survived a direct gun shot to the head.

"Doctor, we have to get moving." Irene noted the dimming sky and still thought she could snag some decent animals if they got moving.

This brought the Doctor back to himself. Irene had shot and killed Clara in cold blood. She had murdered this innocent girl just to prove a point. Fury was boiling up inside the Doctor. It was the intense anger of a Time Lord and not something to be trifled with.

"She was a girl!" The Doctor screamed into her face; all humor from a few minutes ago had vanished. "You killed her! She was everything! She was Clara Oswin Oswald!" He threw all of his fury into his voice.

"Doctor…" Irene began, not knowing how dangerous a furious Time Lord could be.

"LEAVE!" Irene turned and scampered away. She knew she had now permanently lost her partner. Ah well, he would have slowed her down anyways. She could probably get Sherlock to help her if he didn't have that annoying curly haired woman with him. She might as well go it alone. She could probably live better without the Doctor anyways.

In the fading twilight, the Doctor wept over the broken body of his friend as a cannon signaling her death boomed through the arena.

* * *

"What was that?" Donna asked Castiel, looking around.

"Some sort of computer generated sound." Castiel answered, returning to the hillside. The two of them had set up camp in the shadow of a hill. Castiel returned from checking to ensure they were alone with the demon knife in hand. Though Cas had wiped the blood off of both the knife and himself, Donna was very wary as she watched the man.

Cas sat down next to her, feeling fatigued. Being mostly human was certainly exhausting. He leaned back against the grassy ground, eyes coming face to face with the heavens. Donna watched him, wondering how he could go from eye–stabber to exhausted child in a few short hours.

"Do I frighten you?" Even Cas picked up this vibe from the way she looked at him and avoided coming too close.

"You stabbed that creature in the eye like it was no big deal." Donna confided, still feeling pity for the crippled beast.

"I was protecting you and everyone around you." Cas justified immediately. His head swiveled so that he was looking up at her.

"But you left it there to suffer." Donna, feeling uncomfortable with his gaze, lay down next to him. She too, looked upwards at the sky which was streaked with the last rays of a pink sunset. Beyond the rays she could begin to make out the stars. She wondered which of those were the ones that she had been to.

"I'm sorry." Cas realized that what he had done was probably wrong if this human was having such a reaction to it. Donna's head moved so that she could look into his eyes to see if he was genuinely sorry. As she looked at him she thought he probably was. She took his hand and gave a little smile.

"Tell me about yourself." They turned their eyes back up to the heavens. The stars peeped out stronger now and Cas felt a longing to be back home, in heaven. He was suddenly overwhelmed by an urge to tell her everything about his home, even if she didn't quite understand.

They talked for hours underneath the stars. Castiel told her of himself, his brothers and sisters, heaven and even God. Castiel told her the story of his struggle with freewill and his sins of slaying so many angels when he believed he was God. He told of his longing to return home but that for some reason he couldn't explain, he felt compelled to stay earthbound. Donna listened to this with rapt attention, asking questions where appropriate. After her time with the Doctor and the insanity of the afternoon, she believed almost every word he said.

"So, you're an angel." She summed up at the end of all his long speech.

"Pretty much." He gave her an ironic little smile, still holding her hand.

"Right, I'm sitting on a hill with an angel." Donna was laughing with the sheer absurdity of it all. The fact that they were on a hill, the fact that he said he was an angel and most of all the fact that she believed him.

"We're laying actually." Cas corrected her. Donna continued to laugh and Cas, caught by the infectiousness of it, smiled along. They continued through the rest of the night talking about Heaven and the worlds that Donna had been to. They never let go of each other's hand the entire night. When Donna got cold, the two of them snuggled together under Castiel's trench coat. Cas dropped off almost immediately and Donna soon followed, sympathizing with his wish to return home.

* * *

"The stars are bright tonight." Charlie noted, looking through the branches. They had reached a cliff edge and were hiding underneath it for the night. Jack had promised to fix up dinner and Charlie really didn't want to watch that. The smells still tantalized her although she refused to go anywhere near Jack until he cleaned up from whatever animal he had killed.

"Sure are." Jack agreed. He was cooking a rabbit over an open flame. Charlie had been the one to find a secluded little cave at the base of the cliff. It was a bit small but it would offer them the solace they needed for the night. That wasn't his primary concern though. He was fascinated by the idea that he could die in this arena. It didn't frighten him. He had died plenty of times. It was just that he wouldn't wake up gasping this time.

"Is it ready yet?" Charlie asked, inching closer but with her head still turned firmly away. Jack threw the rabbit skins as far into the woods as he could and invited her back over. They ate together, Charlie telling Jack all about the Winchester brothers.

"They're like my brothers." Charlie took another bite in contemplative silence. She hoped that nothing had happened to them. That cannon blast early had struck her as much too ominous for something not to have happened.

"I'll get you back safely to them." Jack promised, putting an arm around her slender shoulders. Charlie smiled awkwardly and removed his arm. He made a jokingly defensive gesture and they giggled a moment. Charlie liked Jack. He was easy to get along with. He felt the same way about her. He felt envy towards the Winchester boys that they could have her as an 'adopted' little sister.

"Bed time?" Charlie asked, tossing away the bone.

"Definitely." Jack agreed, crawling back into the space with her. They were a little cramped but they were warm and safe for the moment.

"Do you think we could try and find the boys?" Charlie asked Jack as he spread his navy blue coat over the pair of them.

"Of course." Jack agreed, thinking that they were probably better off against the possible horrors in a bigger group.

Charlie put her head back and closed her eyes, feeling safe in the enclosed space. She silently hoped that no one was alone during such a frightening day. Little did she know that just a few miles away there was one person alone. He had been separated from his partner and had been searching for her for hours.

A half blind wolf had come charging in between them and she had immediately started running one way while he tried to get it to go the other way. He had never imagined that she would get this lost in the darkening woods.

"Clara?" He called into the night. "Clara!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Notes: Wow, I barely had time to put up this chapter today. My brother is throwing a fit because my mum made him give up the computer so that I could put this up. Anyways: here go the rules for our little contest: You all have until Thursday to guess the last pair of partners that have both people living in the arena. The first person to guess will get the reward of being sent the next scene with a character of their choice. Answers can be sent in via my FanFiction messaging or my tumblr ask box: flyingwiththewolves Please inform me of your character choice for your reward as well as your guessed pair. If no one gets the answer by Thursday at 5:00 pm EST, then oh well no one wins. I may or may not be able to update during my vacation. For sure I won't be able to update on the 16th. More details will be forthcoming. So, pick the pair with both members intact the longest and you win a sneak peak at a character of your choice! Good luck and enjoy the chapter! See you all Thursday!**

The sun first rose on a pair of humans snuggled up together in a tree root hollow. Sam had been awake for over an hour or so but he hadn't moved for fear of disturbing Rose whose head was lying on his chest. He had an arm wrapped around her to keep in the heat and the scent of her hair was drifting in to tickle his nose.

He didn't really notice any of this, however. He was thinking of Dean out in the woods with that red headed Scottish woman he had rescued from the wolf. He had been glad to see that the woman had snagged a good weapon as she stood. He was worried about Dean of course but with a weapon like that, he really didn't have much to fear.

"Morning." Sam's eyes went into focus to find Rose had rotated her head to look into his eyes.

"Hey." He acknowledged, sitting up with her. "Sleep well?"

"Alright. But let me tell you, your heart beats really loudly." She poked him in the chest and he gave a half-hearted smile, his mind still on his absent brother. Rose noticed this.

"What's up?"

"Just wishing my brother was here, that's all." He told her honestly although he sort of simplified what he was feeling.

"We'll find him." Rose assured the giant man. They got up and stretched in the grey morning light. They drank from the stream and talked about their grumbling stomachs.

"We can't kill anything with this." Rose indicated her gun. "It'll incinerate anything I shoot."

"Great." Sam rolled his eyes. He was already hungry; his metabolism required a lot of fuel.

"Guess we'll do this by hand." Rose grinned and winked before setting off into trees. Sam, once again wishing for his brother, followed.

* * *

"Martha." John patted her cheek, trying to wake her up. "Martha Jones you need to wake up now." Martha's vision was blurry as the blonde doctor came swimming into view. Her head was in incredible amounts of pain. Her hand went up automatically to assess the damage but John took it down.

"You don't have a concussion but you took a fair blow to the head." John pulled her up so that she was leaning against the cave wall. The backpack, which John hadn't unpacked yet, helped to support Martha's lower back. Her head had a lovely goose egg popping off the side of it on which John had put a wet cloth.

"Where are we?" Martha got out, trying to pull out the backpack from beneath her.

"A cave. We're way up high. You can see the Cornucopia from the mouth." He glanced over towards the hole which was filling with a damp gray morning. Martha pulled the backpack out and undid the smallest pocket. Out tumbled into her fingers a few bags of salt. She opened the next pocket to find it contained a couple canisters of water as well as a chain with a cross on the end of it. She proceeded it open the largest pocket where she found something that made her gasp with delight.

She held the sonic up to the light. It was exactly as she remembered it, right up to the shiny blue light. She placed this in the inside pocket of her medical coat before looking back into the bag. There was a machete and a gun filled with silver bullets.

"What would we need silver bullets for?" She asked the other Doctor. He shook his head, not knowing the answer.

"Well this is some heavy duty equipment. Whatever we're going to be fighting, it'll be big." Martha wondered where the Doctor could be. Clearly he was here since his sonic was also.

"Do you think we'll have to shoot anyone?" John asked, picking up the machete and testing its edge.

"Rule number one of traveling with me, no killing." Martha snatched back the machete to accent her point. John nodded, not really wanting to anyways. His first priority as a doctor was always to heal even if it conflicted with his army nature of letting the enemy die.

"We need to go out and find food." Martha tried to push herself back up the wall of the cave but John held her back.

"Already done." He indicated two cold rabbits lying farther into the cave.

"What's that?"

"Rabbits." John raised an eyebrow. Hadn't she ever seen a rabbit before?

"No, there." Martha moved past him, looking at something coiled in a shadowy corner behind a rock. She reached down and discovered to her surprise a cold metallic surface. She pulled on it to discover it was a chain. It reached back around a corner and as Martha followed it, she discovered a cavern. In the center of the floor was an enormous drawing. Scattered around the perimeter were chains with similar symbols inscribed on them. In the very center was a table with straps to hold down a prisoner.

"A dungeon." John had followed her. They looked at the gruesome place with a little bit of shock. What sort of Satanist had made this hell hole?

* * *

"Hey Princess, you doing alright?" Amy came back from the pond she had been washing in. She had been quiet the entire morning. She and Dean had slept in the trees that night. Dean had been oddly excited when she showed him the canister of water she had picked up. That, however, was nothing compared to his reaction when she had showed him what else she grabbed.

"You want to stay here while I go find breakfast?" He asked her, taking the gun back from her.

"Sure." She sat down under the tree and folded her knees up, resting her chin on them. She picked up the precious object she had managed to grab from the pile. It shone in the sunlight and was slightly warm in her hand.

"Be careful with that angel blade." Dean warned her. It was the most valuable weapon he knew and while he was beginning to trust Amy, he didn't want that blade being lost. Dean didn't know what was going to be coming after them and he didn't really want to find out.

"Why are we here?" Amy asked Dean, moving her face to face his.

"To entertain us." A voice said beside them. They both stood quickly, Dean automatically taking the blade from Amy and aiming it at the intruder.

"Calm down monkey boy." Crowley had slipped back into his old meat suit. Where Moriarty was, neither Amy nor Dean had any clue. "It's time for you two to past one of our tests." Crowley's eyes gleamed with the prospect of all the entertainment that would soon enfold.

"We're not playing any of your crap games today, Crowley." Dean automatically moved Amy behind him in a protective gesture. But Amy was a very independent woman so she moved out from behind Dean as she asked,

"What kind of test?"

"That's for you to find out. You see, Amy is the one playing the game today. Dean is merely the guide." Amy squinted at the man who looked exactly like Canton in confusion. She only got a moment to look at him, however, because in another moment she had vanished.

"Amy!" Dean shouted out, hoping against all sense that he would hear her Scottish accent shouting back 'I'm right here, you moron.' But, of course, only silence greeted him. "You bring her back." Dean leveled the angel blade with Crowley's face. Crowley didn't even blink as he held out a hand. Balanced on it was a head set.

"She's gone now. If you want to save her, this is the only way." Dean took the headset slowly, bringing the knife closer to Crowley's face to ensure that the demon wouldn't try and pull something. "Happy dancing." Crowley's image vanished and Dean was left staring at the headset.

He put the knife into his pocket and placed the headset onto his head slowly, wary of anything to do with the headset or something that would come out of the woods. As he placed it on his head, the eyepiece in front of his right eye lit up, giving him an image of Amy lying on the backseat of a car.

"Amy!" he called, trying to wake her up. She lifted her head slowly, looking around for where the voice was coming. "Can you hear me?" She put her hand up to her ear where Dean could see an earpiece attached.

"Dean, what's going on?" She was demanding, not really very confused or frightened.

"I'm not sure. Try to find out where you are." As Amy moved out of the car, Dean had a slight moment of longing. "Baby." slipped out of his microphone and into Amy's ear.

"Excuse me?" Amy raised an eyebrow on his screen, unaware that he could see her. But Dean wasn't referring to her. The car she had stepped out of was the Impala.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone for participating tin the contest! Now, I probably won't be able to update at all during this vacation so for sure I'll see you all on the twentieth. I still ****_may _****be able to but the circumstances are shifting around still. If you see me on Sunday, you see me. If not, oh well. I hope you all enjoy the chapter! I'll miss you all!**

Jack stood and stretched as he left the cave. Charlie was still asleep, her head hanging limply where Jack had been only a moment before. Yesterday the two of them had explored a far radius outside of where their cave was but hadn't found anyone else. Charlie had returned exhausted and Jack had let her go to sleep immediately. He was now ready to go out and get her breakfast. Perhaps he would return to the stream that they had found yesterday and get her some fish.

He made sure she was completely covered by the navy blue coat before trekking through the forest. He reached the stream relatively quickly and his fishing endeavors paid off with a bounty of fish. He had caught four plump fish, enough to keep him and Charlie going for half a day at least. He removed his undershirt and put his over shirt back on. He made a bag with the undershirt and began to carry the bag back to where Charlie might have woken by now.

He was on route to the small hollow in the cliff when he heard the enormous rumble of rocks sliding. He instantly dropped the bag and began to sprint towards their hiding place. He swore under his breath as he saw the hole was plugged with several tons of heavy rock. He cast glances about wildly, hoping that Charlie had escaped the mass destruction but the sparky young girl was nowhere to be seen.

He began to paw at some of the smaller stones plugging up the only air holes Charlie might have had.

"Jack?" A weak voice came from behind the wall of stone.

"It's okay, Charlie, it's going to be okay." Jack was breathing fast as he lied to her. He had no idea if she was going to be alright. "Can you move?"

"My leg is caught." In actuality Charlie's leg had been shattered to pieces but she had also taken a blow to the head which had scrambled her pain receptors. The interior of the cave had been drastically reduced and she was struggling for air. She couldn't move and her world was spinning. The only thing that kept her from plunging into the blackness was the sound of Jack's voice urging her to fight.

Jack knew that he couldn't move this rock alone. Perhaps if he got someone else they could move it together. "Charlie?" A vague moan answered. "I'm going to go find some help. Wait here and don't move. Try to stay awake." Jack took off running. He shouted for help, desperate for anything but silence.

He was so busy looking around for someone that he ran straight into someone. He fell back heavily as did the other person. He didn't even notice for he was up again in a moment begging for help. The woman agreed and followed him back towards the cave.

"That's where your partner is?" She asked, scanning the plugged up opening.

"We have to hurry; she's going to run out of air." Jack ran forward and began to locate the optimal rock to move.

"Sorry, but no." A click forced Jack to raise his hands and turn away slowly.

"What are you doing?' he asked, quite angry at this turn of events.

"I'm going to win the game." Irene said, leveling the gun with the handsome man's head.

"We don't have to kill each other! We don't have to kill anyone!" Jack tried to reason with her.

"Unfortunately, I don't believe that one minute." Jack's head was spinning. He had to help Charlie and this woman wasn't helping.

A rumble shook where the two were shaking. They looked up to see another landslide coming down almost on top of them. Jack jumped backwards from the rocks and thus managed to avoid the bullet that Irene had fired directly at his head. Jack on instinct had his gun out immediately and his bullet went straight through the skull of the woman.

"Charlie!" Jack yelled, jumping forward to the massive rock pile. A canon shot didn't even faze the desperate man.

"Jack?" Her voice sounded like a whisper fighting to make itself heard through the roar of a crowd.

"Are you alright?" Jack already knew the answer but he shook his head in denial to banish the thought.

"There's a rock... on top of... me... I... can't..." She was gasping for air. Jack's eyes filled up. He had promised her. He had promised...

"Watch... over... my boys..." she asked of the other man, her only thoughts were of the boys she thought of as her brothers.

"Okay, Charlie. I will." Another canon shot rang out and Jack hung his head, shame at the death of the two women lying near him boiling up inside of him.

* * *

"Do you have any idea of where we're going?" Martha asked, shoving aside an offending branch. She had been on the mend for the past couple of days until John had given the okay for them to go and look for their friends. Martha had even managed to get him out of the cave a few days early. Those chains in the back were much too scary. She made sure to hide her occasional wheezes from her fellow doctor.

"Nope." John continued hiking through the woods. They had gone to a place so deep in the trees that barely any light pierced through the branches. He was walking slowly on purpose to allow Martha to catch up. He knew she was struggling and trying not to show it. He ignored it, preferring to let her try to be strong then forcing her to rest.

A rustle of branches caught John's attention. He cast a glance that way, the military part of him screamed that something was wrong. Martha, trying to pull air into her struggling lungs, didn't notice the hairs prickling up on the back of her neck. John's hand went automatically for the gun in his pocket. It came out slowly and he cocked it. This caught Martha's attention.

Martha's military training clicked into place just as quickly as John's when she realized something was up. She pulled out the gun with silver bullets from her torn white coat. The two army doctors exchanged looks and moved to cover each other's backs. They moved quietly and cautiously through the dark, careful not to rustle the branches on the ground or say anything.

They continued on this way for nearly ten minutes. Martha was having trouble breathing again but she didn't let it show. This was a dangerous place and John had to focus as did she. Her eyes repeatedly scanned the tree line, hoping to see a friendly face but seeing nothing at all.

Out of nowhere, there was a horrible scream, coming from behind her. John's gun blast startled her ears but she didn't turn. She was right not to. Another scream came from the trees in front of her. It was a man with a long slice down his face that bled into his open mouth. He was screaming with madness and his eyes were dead. He clawed at the air. Martha's shot rang out automatically, the silver bullet crunching through his skull.

Suddenly, the two of them were surrounded by the enraged walking corpses. They downed one after another but their ammunition was running dangerously low and they appeared one after the other. All at once, just as they were firing their last charges, all the bloody creatures vanished. They melted back into the trees, leaving John and Martha alone.

"What the bloody hell was that?" John swore, examining the corpse.

"Don't touch it!" Martha warned, yanking his hand back so that he didn't touch the still face. "It could be an infectious disease."

"It certainly looks that way." John agreed, limiting himself to visual observation of this insanity.

"We need to get out of here." Martha warned, moving them towards the way they had come. She was stopped by her sharp eye catching sight of something. She ran her fingers along the crudely carved words.

"Croatoan." John read the bizarre word that was half hidden beneath her steady fingers. "I've heard of that. It was carved into a tree on the edge of a vanishing town in America."

"What does it mean?" Martha wondered aloud, trying to figure out if it had some connection to the crazed corpses that surrounded them. Could it be a warning?

"I'm running low." John looked at his two remaining shots.

"Me too." Martha realized, having only three left herself. Martha gave John the machete since he had fewer bullets and they tried moving back towards the way they had come. However, they were simply moving deeper and deeper into the territory of the insane demon virus.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Notes: Here's me! Back a day early from vacation! Hope none of you missed me too much! Here's a chapter to get us back into gear, a completely Amy and Dean chapter. Enjoy ladies and gents!**

"Dean, tell me what is going on." Amy's voice was deathly serious. She looked at the old car, confused by what it meant to her partner. She glanced in it and saw the well cared for interior. There was a collection of rock and roll cassettes in the car. They were a bit scattered as though someone had recently been rummaging through them.

"I have no idea, Princess. But that's my baby." Dean gazed through the eyepiece longingly at his baby. The cassettes he had been looking through when he had been taken were still spread over the seats. However, his professional instincts took over and he dismissed his car for the time being.

"You like rock?" Amy asked, not sure how to feel about this.

"Turn around and see what's around you." Dean commanded, watching her. Amy turned and began to take in her surroundings. She was in a little town in front of a police station. There were a couple of people walking around on the sidewalks but they weren't anything out of the ordinary.

"Nice suit." Dean noted. Amy looked down at herself. She was indeed wearing a suit and her ordinary clothes were nowhere to be seen. She dug in her pockets and pulled out a bit of plastic.

"FBI?" Amy asked indignantly. She had seen shows about American coppers before running off with the Doctor and most of them were annoying and repetitive. She mentally begged that she wasn't in one of those shows while waiting for Dean to respond.

"Go into the station and show them your badge." Dean ordered, thinking that maybe this would lead them to whatever Amy was doing in that place.

"Fine. But I'm doing it my way." Amy threw her brilliant red hair behind her as she began to stride up to the police station with confidence. She would have felt better if the Doctor had been with her but that wasn't an option at the moment. So she did what she always did. She improvised.

"Special Agent Amy Pond, FBI." She snapped at the young man behind the counter.

"I suppose you're here for the werewolf attack. You should know that you can't get in without the proper paperwork." The youthful fellow didn't even look up from the paper he was scribbling on. Dean cursed paper work in her ear. Amy crossed her arms on the high counter and rested her chin on them.

"I just want to have a look." She tilted her head slightly so that her hair caught the light. She had found this pose very effective in convincing others to do what she wanted. She waited for the boy to look up, perfectly angled to accomplish her purpose.

"Like I said, you need to have the proper p- oh." He jumped up from his chair. His cheeks flushed red as he looked at the beautiful woman waiting patiently in front of him. His eyes fixed on her before darting all over the room, trying to look anywhere else. "I- uh…" Amy slid her head up her arms until it rested on her hands.

"Just a peek." She leaned forward a little bit, tantalizing him. The young man gulped repeatedly, leaning forward a bit and then back. Amy knew she almost had him. She just needed a little something to set him off the edge. She let off a dazzling smile as the idea came to her.

"I suppose I'll have to go and talk to my superior. You wouldn't want that? A nice young man like you?" She had stood up straight and placed her hands on her hips so that he could see her full figure. This sealed the deal. He scrambled forward, throwing up papers while he looked for something. Amy waited patiently.

"Here's special written permission." He handed her a slip of paper which Amy stashed securely in her pocket.

"Thank you Billy." She noted the name from a stray paper that was in her line of sight. He gave her an awkward smile and before she turned towards the morgue she said "Eyes front soldier." The brilliant Amelia Pond flounced her way down the hallway with poor Billy staring longingly after her.

Dean, unfortunately, had also had the perfect angle to see everything Amy had done. He swallowed hard, shaking the desire aside with a flick of his head. "Nice work, Princess." He complimented as he watched her through whatever mysterious camera was following her.

"Thank you." She said proudly, strutting with confidence. She turned left down a hallway before Dean corrected her that she had to go the other way. "I knew that." She turned around and walked past the sign that could have pointed her in the correct direction if she had read it. Amy pushed open the swinging door and was met by a hefty older gentleman that was in charge of the corpses.

"What have we got, Doc?" She asked, moving over to the body.

"The boys are calling it a werewolf attack." The man uncovered the body and Amy's chipper attitude vanished. The man had been torn to pieces. Dr. Ecker had managed to clean him up well but that didn't hide the major gashes that he had sustained. Amy's head spun with the brutality of it.

"Was it?" was the only response she could come up with her scrambled wits. She half asked the doctor but she primarily listened for Dean's response.

"No, looks more like a chainsaw." Dean noted the way the ragged flesh lined up and the way the guts had been completely mutilated close to the slices. This was a part of his normal life so unlike Amy, who was struggling not to gag, he was completely fine with it.

"No. His wife came after him with a chainsaw. She tore him to pieces and then collapsed on the floor. She claims she doesn't remember a thing but their security camera caught the entire thing on tape. The boys took her into custody." Dr. Ecker, sensing Amy's distress, put the sheet back on top of the body. Amy breathed a little easier but the chemical smells surrounding her still made her a little queasier.

"May I speak to her?" Amy asked, eager to get out of the same room as the man who had been through a meat grinder. She even moved closer to the door with hope.

"Yes, you should. Talked to her myself once or twice. Small town here, it's bound to happen. She doesn't seem like the chainsaw type." Dr. Ecker mused thoughtfully, stroking his short cropped beard. Amy said goodbye to the Doctor before making a quick exit.

"You doing okay, Princess?" Dean asked, actual concern leaking into his voice.

"What the hell was that?" Amy was incredibly disgusted by what she had just witnessed.

"A case." Dean began to explain to her more of what his job was. The more he told her, the more disgusted Amy became. By the time she reached the office of the chief she wanted to rip the earpiece out and leave Dean Winchester far behind her.

She knocked politely on the door and was admitted. The woman introduced herself as Adriana Smith and the two women shook hands.

"What can you tell me about the wife?" Amy asked, trying to be as professional as possible while ignoring the just audible sounds of Dean yawning in her ear.

"She's just normal. Two kids in college and she goes to the salon every week. She's a very sweet woman and her husband was her childhood sweetheart. There isn't any explanation for it." Adriana sighed.

"You sound like you knew her." Amy picked up on the way the other woman talked. She talked as though she had known the accused for a very long time.

"She was in my grade at school. We practically grew up together. It's one of those small town things." The police chief shrugged it off.

"I know. I grew up in a small town too." Amy thought of Leadworth and began missing it until she remembered how much she had wanted to get away and how much more exciting her life was when she elsewhere. The desire to return to that place vanished instantly.

"Would you like to talk to her?" Amy was led to an interrogation room where the chainsaw murderer was handcuffed to a chair. She had tears streaming down her face as Amy entered.

"That will be all, boys." Amy dismissed the police officers that had followed her in. After exchanging glances they left Amy to her own devices. Amy sat down opposite the other woman, compassion bubbling up.

"Mrs. Butler, can you tell me exactly what happened?" Amy asked, taking the other woman's hand kindly, showing that she would believe whatever she said.

"I was just washing dishes when I had a compulsion to go out to the yard. Then everything went black and when I came to, I was in a pool of my husband's blood and Jerry…" Fresh tears snaked down her face and she was unable to complete the thought. Amy had no idea what sort of thing would do this. She assured the woman that she believed her and collected some more details before leaving the room.

"I'll be doing some further investigation." Amy told Adriana as she walked past her. Amy pushed open the door from the station while being glanced over by Billy. "Did you get that?" Amy put a hand to her earpiece, listening for sounds of life on the other end.

"Yeah, I got it. I was thinking maybe demon possession. However, when you asked her about smelling anything weird she said no so that rules out sulfur." Dean thought out loud, constructing scenarios in his mind.

"Sulfur?" Amy asked, leaning back against Baby. She crossed her arms as she continued to listen to the gruff voice continue to analyze the situation. She ran her hand along the black side. It was actually quite a beautiful car despite the fact that it was American.

"I say we go and do some research on the house." Dean suggested, thinking that something would probably pop up in the history of the house.

"And by we, you mean me." Amy corrected, moving around to the driver's side of the car. Driving as an American used to be complicated but she had learned how to do it from living in New York for nearly a year. She picked up the keys from the seat and revved the engine. Dean made a sound of protest on the other end.

"What?"

"I just usually don't let anyone else drive my baby besides Sam. I don't even let Cas drive it, not that he needs it." Dean felt nervous as he watched the Scottish woman place her hands on the wheel.

"Not to worry, Dean. I'll watch over your baby."


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Notes: With NaNoWriMo coming up next month I have been working my butt off with writing and almost forgot about my fanfiction! But, fear not. I'll keep up with this as well as I can. This chapter includes quite a few groups of people and I rather like it. Don't forget to review! I love to hear from you! Enjoy the chapter!**

"Why don't you tell us what happened?" Rose offered to the hunched over man. He was wearing Sam's large jacket and was still slightly shaking with cold. Rose and Sam had found him in the forest, completely wiped out and alone. They had brought him back near their hollow where they were trying to warm him by giving him their own jackets although Sam's was the only one that actually covered him.

"I was trying to find my partner." Though he was still quite young his hair was already going gray. He zipped up the jacket to seal in the warmth. He was still concerned over his missing partner. He was still praying that she had found somewhere warm. "Do either of you know Clara?"

"One of the women at the Cornucopia said that that little girl was Clara." Sam thought of the sweet faced young woman. Rose shook her head to indicate she hadn't seen her. "I haven't seen her." Sam acknowledged, sorry for the poor woman who must have been alone at the moment.

"I've got to find her." Lestrade stood, eager to resume looking for sweet little Clara who could easily be torn apart by the dangers that lurked in the forest.

"Woah there. We can help." Sam offered, not wanting anything to happen to the poor girl.

"Well, Let's go." Lestrade immediately set off in the direction he had been heading before he fell asleep against that tree. Sam and Rose exchanged a look behind him. Rose pulled out her gun and Sam pocketed the book. They followed the gray head farther into the woods.

* * *

"We're going in circles." Castiel realized, knowing that they had become hopelessly lost in the forest. He pushed aside a branch that had nearly slapped him in the face. His other hand held tightly to the demon blade. He hadn't let go of it since they had left the hillside they slept on two nights ago. Donna didn't carry any weapons.

"We should have gone to the horn." Donna repeated her earlier advice with sass.

"Sam and Dean wouldn't go back to the horn. They would be in the woods." They had been having this conversation over and over since they had left the hill. Donna sighed. Why did these men always insist on jumping straight into danger? "We should be getting close."

Just as he said this, they came into a blaze of sunlight. Donna blinked away the spots before sighing. "I don't understand." Cas faltered, looking around. Cas had somehow managed to lead them back to the clearing where the Cornucopia resided.

"We're lost you dimbo!" Donna yelled, throwing up her hands. Men! Or was it angels?

"I did not anticipate the complexity of the woods." Cas was truly turned about and was drooping a bit with the complete hopelessness of his mission. Sam and Dean were nowhere to be found. They hadn't seen a single soul since the first meeting at the horn.

"The complexity of the woods?" Donna imitated, getting really riled up. She had been following him for two days and had finally hit breaking point. "They're trees! How do you get lost in trees?" Cas ignored her as he tried to think his way out. If he had had his powers he could have been in the entire forest at once and found the two of them in a snap. As it was though, he was more human then he'd care to admit.

"Hey, you alright?" Donna noticed he hadn't snapped back at her. He was just sort of staring off at the horn. She grabbed his arm, bringing him back to reality.

"We should camp here." Castiel told her, going towards the Cornucopia.

"Why?" Cas listed off a couple of reasons that Donna didn't listen to. She was too busy looking apprehensively at the horn. She could still remember the smell of blood and the howl of the wolves charging them. The place had become eternally haunted for her.

"Alright, but don't leave me here by myself." She warned him.

"If I leave, we go together." Cas promised, moving toward the golden object.

* * *

John stumbled back, wiping the blood from his eyes. He had sustained a nasty gash across the top of his head. He held the machete at the ready, prepared to behead more zombies if they came at him. Martha leaned against the tree behind him, trying desperately to catch her breath. The majority of what she had done was running but John had given her a fair share of the machete.

"Where are we supposed to go now?" John gasped out, knuckles white against the handle of the weapon. What he wouldn't give to be safe at home with a cup of tea. He had seen enough of these blasted woods for a lifetime.

"I'll climb a tree." Martha offered. She found a low branch but when she tried to pull herself up, she inhaled sharply with the pain in her side. John was there immediately, giving her a boost into the tree branch. It was easier from there as Martha made her way toward the top. Once she got an approximate reading on where they were she began to shimmy downwards.

At the foot of the tree she discovered John in the middle of a tussle with another zombie. His blade had been flung away and he was holding the creature away with his bare hands as it leered over him. The zombie was bleeding also, the drips of blood slowly falling onto the nasty cut near John's scalp.

Martha quickly took the blade and sliced off the zombie's head. It rolled away with the trace of a grin on its disembodied head. John pushed the body off and wiped the blood from his head.

"Did it get on you?" Martha asked, her worries starting to grow.

"I think it got in me." John's eyes were wide. He was a doctor and he knew how dangerous blood to blood contact could be. If this was how the virus got around, then he was most surely infected. He immediately dropped the machete in case he hurt Martha with it.

"We'll go back to the cave and chain you up." Martha offered, picking up the blade and wiping the zombie blood off carefully on the grass. She gave a sharp indication with her head for John to follow her. She also held the blade at the ready. Even though she was weak she knew she could take a hefty piece out of him with the massive blade. John followed along meekly, unsure of what was going to happen.

* * *

"There." Martha had put on every chain and sealed them with the sonic. John was lashed to the table in the center of the 'Satan Circle' as Martha called it. So far he had no signs of zombie-ism but since it had only been about six hours, Martha still wasn't ruling it out. John hadn't said anything since they had left, consumed in worry for his companion who he could turn on at every moment.

"I'm going to cure you." Martha told him. She knew that there had to be _something _in these woods to cure him. An herb maybe or some berries. They wouldn't put something in here without a cure, would they? Even if they would, Martha wasn't going to give up that easily. She was a doctor and she wasn't going to back down from whatever this was.

"I'm going to go out and get some food." Martha told him, laying out their remaining supplies on the floor just outside the Satan circle. They still had one remaining bullet, the sonic screwdriver, the salt, the water, the cross, the machete, and the other useless gun. She wondered once again what the salt was for before piling this and the water into a corner. She stuck the sonic into her pocket and held the machete.

"I'll be back soon." John heard as the other doctor left the cave. His vision was blurring and he couldn't really hear well anymore. It was as though his senses were slowly shutting down. His head lolled as he tried to stay conscious. He was drifting, wondering where the doctor had gone and where on earth Sherlock was…

Suddenly his senses exploded outward. His vision became twice as sharp and his hearing three times more so. He could smell the blood pumping through the songbird just outside the cave and his only urge was to convert. He needed everyone to feel this way. He needed all the humans to feel this power, this better sense of the world. He needed everyone to join him.

He began straining against the bindings, feeling the metal bite viciously into his skin. Pulling at the chains, he tried to work them free from the wall. It could take days but he could wait. He would have to be clever in order to fool that doctor woman, whoever she was. There was no way she would accept such a gift as these senses right away. There was too much prejudice inside her.

John pulled again, his full force becoming stronger with each tug. He could feel the power of the zombie's blood coursing through him and making him stronger with every passing moment. Soon he would be able to break free. Soon he would go and take the rest of the humans in the arena. Soon they would belong to the blood.

* * *

Not too far from where the thing that had been John Watson struggled with his bindings, Dean had fallen asleep. He had watched Amy do research for hours and now the two of them were taking a well-earned break. Dean had been up with her through the night and now in the morning Dean had fallen asleep. Amy was also asleep in the bed of a motel. She had found her clothes in the trunk of the Impala and had changed back into the jeans and tank to sleep in.

She could hear the sounds of Dean's sleeping breath through the earpiece which she kept in. She missed him for a brief moment, wishing she had someone there to talk to, face to face. Then she had simply drifted off, head buzzing with the research she and Dean had gone through for the past seeming-eternity.

Amy dreampt of the man torn up by the chainsaw and had frightening dreams of strangers chasing her with sharp objects. She woke up extremely unsettled. After assuring herself that she was still moderately safe in her motel room she lay back to sleep, once again lulled into security by the sound of Dean just audible in her ear.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Notes: Nothing much to say today except thank you for your continuing support! I know reading this can't be fun because writing it is killing me. This chapter especially. It hurt me a lot inside although I'm sure the rest of you are tougher than I am. Regardless, enjoy the chapter and please review!**

"Greg, there's nothing here." Sam said for the hundredth time. They had been trekking through the same stretch of woods where Lestrade had thought he left Clara for hours. Rose hadn't said anything but she was personally beginning to fear that Lestrade's partner was not here because she had passed on. However, there was no sign of a body so far.

"I told you, call me Lestrade." He insisted, moving towards a tree that looked semi-familiar. He inspected its base and found, to his delight, that there was a small footprint. The size was so small that the only person who's foot would have fit was Clara's.

With a grin, he turned to tell the other two of what he had found. However, his vision went sharply dark. His entire head felt hot and his knees buckled. He felt his eyes roll up and his face hit dirt. Then Greg Lestrade lived no more.

"Cyberman!" Rose shouted, pushing the gigantic Sam Winchester behind her. Her gun grew hot as it poured one massive charge into the metal body. It shook as its organic parts were consumed by the massive heat wave. It fell, pointlessly empty, to the ground beside the electrocuted body of the Detective Inspector.

Sam rushed over to feel for the pulse in Greg's neck that he knew wouldn't be there. As his gentle fingers fell sadly from the corpse, Sam shook his head to Rose. She hung her head, disappointment in her failure to act faster was consuming her insides. She pressed a hand to her mouth in an effort to keep tears from spilling forth. She knew that his death was her fault. If she only could have moved a moment faster...

Then a warm shell came around her. A large thumb drew itself across her cheek, wiping away the tears that had gotten past her emotional barricade. She found her head nestled in a soft plaid shirt and her hands gripping the coat tightly as though fearful that the warmth would leave her. A hand rubbed itself in soothing circles on her back while a canon fired.

Sam had seen the distress Rose was in as she looked at the body of the man who had been so excited to tell them something a moment ago. She had lowered her head but Sam knew that look anywhere. Guilt. He had seen it in the mirror more times then he cared to count. He knew it wasn't her fault. The robot thing had come from behind the tree so fast that they didn't have time to react. Rose's quick instincts had saved the two of them but there had been no way to save Lestrade.

He went to comfort her. She held him tight to keep him from going anywhere although he had no intention of leaving. His watchful eye searched the woods for more robots as he held her. "It isn't your fault." He told her, moving a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I should have saved him." Rose denied his comfort, her hands were fists now as they held his shirt, her knuckles white with her own fury at herself.

"You can't save everyone." Sam put a hand on her face, forcing her to look up into his eyes. It was at this point that Rose met the real Sam Winchester. She saw past the puppy dog eyes and floppy hair to the man inside. He was broken. Perhaps he hadn't been whole in a long time. He had the look of a man who couldn't save everyone and it was haunting him. Rose had seen this look so many times when she had looked into the Doctor's eyes.

Rose reached up and wrapped her arms around Sam's neck before resuming her nuzzling into his chest. Sam held a hand to the back of Rose's head. He didn't know she had seen him for who he was. He didn't know that she wasn't crying for her own failure anymore. He didn't know that she was crying because he was hurting inside but he kept it all bottled up.

And so the pair of them held each other, feeling the other's pain but not knowing the other did. They held each other for the longest time, hurting but saying absolutely nothing. Birds whistled around them but they didn't hear it. A bubble of pain hid them from the world.

* * *

"Just keep digging." Amy's face was covered in sweat. She straightened up, her back sore from the heavy labor. Her hands had blistered from the shovel and her clothes were covered in dirt. She irritably swatted a lock of ginger hair from her face.

"I've been working here for twenty minutes, don't you dare tell me to hurry once more Dean Winchester." Dean grinned at the girl's Scottish fire as he watched her struggling over the grave site. She had been much more of a trooper then anyone else would have been in her situation. Dean knew she was tired but they only had so much time until the cops showed up, he knew. They were both only running on a couple hours of sleep, so irritated remarks had flown a few times.

_Clunk. _Amy's shovel had hit wood. She let a look of relief slip on her face before bashing the strong wood in with her shovel. It punctured through quickly. Her hand shot up to her nose as the smell of a decaying human body hit her.

"Oh, that is repulsive." She accused as though it were Dean's fault. She jumped up out of the deep hole she had dug.

"Salt and burn the bones." Dean reminded her, anxious that the cops would show up in the midst of this grisly scene. Amy dug around in the bag she had brought for the large canister of salt. A whisper of movement made Amy go rigid. "What is it?" Dean saw her posture but he couldn't see behind her.

Amy turned around slowly, the salt clenched in her hand. A ragged girl stood behind her, slashes covering her cheeks. "Dean?" Fear tinted Amy's voice. She knew that this was the ghost she had come to put down but she hadn't expected to see it. Dean had told her that any ghost that could posses a woman to chop up her own husband with a chainsaw was incredibly powerful.

"Amy? Are you alright?" Dean asked, he saw the back of the little girl and knew Amy was staring down the ghost, trying to figure out what to do. "Use the salt!" He yelled at her. Amy fumbled with the top as the little girl screamed and began to rush at her. Amy screamed as she whipped the salt across the image of the girl. She vanished and Amy rushed to the grave.

Amy dumped most of the salt into the grave and tried to light the lighter. She clicked it several times but the flame didn't come. The girl popped up again across the grave and with another startled click, the flame sprang to life. The little girl reached her hand out, screaming, while Amy dropped the fire onto the bones of the girl.

The image disappeared in a flash of fire and Amy buried her face in her hands, frightened of what she had seen. When hands grabbed her hands she screamed and lashed out, her nails ripping flesh. She backed up instinctively. However, she saw that what she had scratched was not an enemy, but her guide to ghost slaying Dean Winchester. His face had a small amount of blood on it from where she had torn straight through his skin but he seemed to not even notice. His hands were up in a calming gesture.

"Dean." Amy whimpered in relief. Her fire from a few minutes ago had gone out with the fright of the entire situation.

"Hey Princess." His insides unclenched. He had feared that once the ghost showed up that he would lose his Scottish princess.

"So touching." A sassy English accent drew the pair's attention. Crowley stood before them again, wearing a little smirk. "So, you passed my first test. Good for you. I have high hopes for you two. I think you may be the ones to win this thing. But I can't show favoritism so I'm going to have to throw everything I have at you."

"Why don't you go bother someone else?" Dean growled at the demon. His anger at the injustice of this entire game was growing hotter. He could have punched Crowley in the jaw right then if it would have affected the demon at all. His hand was going for the angel blade stashed in the back of him before it leaped into Crowley's hand.

"Now now Dean. Play nice." He turned his attentions to the filthy ginger. "And well done to you, what did he call you? Princess? Fitting. I like it." Amy made a move towards him, ready to tear him apart but Dean restrained her with an arm. "If you really want me to go bother someone else, I suppose I could pay your little Sammy a visit."

Dean grabbed the demon by his meat suit and lifted him off the ground. "If you dare hurt my brother I will cut you to ribbons and feed you to your own hell hound. Understand?" Amy gulped. This was a side of Dean she had never wanted to see. The look of a murderer was in his eyes and she felt more afraid of him then the ghost of even the demon.

"I'll take that as an invitation to keep on playing demon games with the two of you then." Crowley grinned into the face of the man who wanted to kill him most before saying "See you later." and vanishing. The angel blade crunched dead leaves as it fell the the ground.

"Come back here, coward!" Dean screamed to the sky. Amy scooped up the angel blade quickly, fearful of what Dean might do if he got his hands on it. She backed away from him, knife held toward him as he turned to look at her.

"What are you doing?" He asked her, his anger dying down into confusion as he looked at her.

"You're an angry killer. I'm protecting myself." Amy defended herself. Dean's eyes softened. He knew what he must look like to her. He wasn't even splattered in blood as was his usual.

"Amy, I'm sorry." He apologized. She looked him up and down, as though trying to guess whether he was about to take the knife by force.

"You got me out of that other world, so I'm trusting you now." She explained, slowly but hesitantly giving him the knife back. The Doctor didn't approve of weapons anyways so neither did she. Dean's eyes were sad now and Amy was confused. What was with this sudden change of emotion?

"Night's setting in here." He told her, looking up at the sky. Amy looked up and to her puzzlement saw he was right.

"But it was almost morning where I was."

"Let's get some sleep." Dean had a tone of asking in his voice, determined to right his wrong in losing his temper. Amy nodded and moved past him, keeping her distance. Dean sighed. What had he done?


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Notes: Alright, a bit of a boring chapter I'll admit but some things had to be done so...yeah. I hope you enjoy and please review! Nothing would make me happier!**

A fire crackled beneath the cold hands of Captain Jack Harkness. He gave them a brisk rub. He had been looking for signs of life in this forest for quite a while. So far, nothing. He was a bit lonely although he'd never admit it. His hand brushed over the handle of his gun. He had come across a few wolves but their soft undersides had provided easy targets. One of them had also provided the meal he had wrapped up a few moments ago.

A branch cracked somewhere to Jack's right. His gun was out in a moment, pointed at the source of the sound. Both hands gripped the weapon until his knuckles were white with strain. "Who's there?" He called out, hoping for an English response instead of a howl.

"Jack!" A man with messy hair jumped out of the woods. His bow tie was askew and there were twigs in his hair. "Boy am I glad to see you!" The man ran up to Jack and threw his arms around him. "I've been wandering around trying to find someone forever."

"Not that I don't like to be hugged in the middle of the forest but who are you?" Jack didn't think this bizarre man was a threat but he figured that letting go of his gun would be a mistake.

"Oh, right sorry. New face. It's me! The Doctor!" The Doctor slapped his own cheeks to indicate the face was new. He grinned like the madman he was inside as Jack let out an exclamation of realization.

"Doctor!" Jack picked the light man off the ground in another hug. "You would not believe how long I've been waiting for this." Jack stuffed his gun into his pocket.

"Well, wait no longer. Where's your partner?" The Doctor looked around at the campsite, expecting a pretty young girl to pop out at any moment.

"She was... killed." Jack glanced down, momentary shame burning his insides. He could still hear her gasping breaths inside the cave as she struggled to breathe.

"I'm sorry, Jack." Together they sat down at the edge of the fire and began to relate their experiences to each other. The Doctor was sad to hear of Irene's death but he knew the arena would be a safer place without her. He could breathe easier however, that didn't make her death right. He mourned her death as well as Clara's and this Charlie girl's in his mind. This was getting out of hand.

"So you're saying that when Clara died there was a cannon shot?" Jack remembered the loud booms when Charlie and Irene had died.

"Yeah, sort of like a cannon." The Doctor affirmed, eating the cooked meat Jack had offered. He hadn't eaten anything but berries in days and he needed something with substance.

"This canon noise must mark someone's death because I heard the same thing when Charlie and Irene... you know..." Jack trailed off, trying to think if he had heard any other cannon shots.

"There was another sound earlier..." The Doctor remembered, adding a mental note that someone else had died. "There were about eight groups at the Cornucopia and with four cannon shots that means there are still twelve of us left. We can still save most of the people here." The Doctor didn't know if what he thought was true but he was certainly going to try and save them all.

"Tomorrow we can go and look for more people." Jack threw another stick into the fire. Embers flew up into the darkening sky.

"Yeah..." The Doctor adjusted his bow tie. He was going to save everyone he could.

* * *

"Well, I don't think that two men could possibly take on a professional assassin that tall unless one of them had some sort of training." River pushed aside a bush. She was careful to wipe off the berry juice that she got on her. She didn't know if they were poisonous or not. It was going to be night soon. They would need to set up camp.

"John was a former army doctor." Sherlock stated plainly. River had suggested that he tell her about some of the consulting detective stories about Moriarty. They helped both to pass the time and to inform her about the villain who had helped trap them in this place.

"A doctor. So we're both in love with medical men." River smirked a little bit at Sherlock's back.

"No, I'm not-" Sherlock stuttered and shook his head.

"Not up to me to pass judgment dearie." River stopped talking for just a moment. She thought she had heard voices. Sherlock disregarded his previous thoughts as he thought for a moment he too had heard something. He drew out his gun and turned to see River already had hers in hand.

They moved towards the tree line, guns in hand. They exchanged a look as they started leaving the faint path. The voices were coming from just behind a couple of trees that were interwoven closely. There was a small stream that flowed past.

Sherlock moved on one side of the trees and River moved to other, guns at the ready. All of a sudden, the voices stopped. Sherlock and River exchanged glances and moved to the front of the trees, guns aimed at the pair sitting beneath the tree.

Sam moved his arm instinctively in front of Rose, shielding her. She gave a startled little gasp, clutching Sam's arm. She had more been surprised by his arm but the combination of that and two people nearly materializing in front of them with guns had caused the sound. Sam gulped almost silently next to her.

"Look, we don't mean any harm." Sam raised his hands to show his good intent and Rose followed suit. Sam began to stand slowly Sherlock's gun followed his head while River kept hers trained on Rose. Sam rose four inches taller than Sherlock so he began to think of some other strategic advantage in case this got down to hand to hand fighting.

"What do you want?" Rose asked, feeling slightly safer with the enormous Winchester protecting her. The woman with the curly hair was giving her a very strange look that Rose didn't like. She scooted towards Sam slightly, his bulk pressing into her arm.

"We heard voices. We didn't know if they were dangerous or not." River didn't lower her gun as she spoke. There was something eerily familiar about the girl. Something she felt she must remember...

"We're not going to hurt you." Sam reassured though the other pair were the ones with the guns. He noticed that the blonde woman was giving Rose a funny look. He then stumbled upon the realization that a slightly frightened Rose was pressed into his side. "Let's just talk." He addressed this thought to the dark man who still had a gun trained on his head.

"You sit and we'll talk." Sherlock didn't like the odds of trying to take this man out if he had to. He had trained killer written all over him despite the fact that he seemed gentle on the outside. Sherlock had met too many killers not to know one on sight. However, the girl he was with was quite different. She was frightened although she was hiding it quite well.

Sam sat slowly, followed quickly by Rose. As a gesture of faith, River also sat. Sherlock sat last, gun coming down just slightly. He didn't trust this killer sitting opposite him but he didn't believe he would try and pull anything while the young blonde was next to them. River swung the backpack off of her shoulder and set it down beside her. This caught Sam's eye and an expression of surprise overtook his face.

"Where did you get that?" River followed his gaze and moved the backpack in front of her. The demon warding on the front was clearly visible to Sammy now. "Do you know what that is?" He asked her, resisting the urge to take it from her and search through it.

"No, I've been trying to decipher it but it doesn't make sense to me."

"May I see it?" River handed him the bag a little reluctantly. He tore it open and pulled out the first thing in there. It was a gun. Sherlock's hand tightened on his gun automatically and River sat up a bit straighter. Sam however, dropped it to the side of the bag and continued searching. "You guys have an arsenal in here." Sam exclaimed as he saw the mounds of salt and holy water.

"An angel blade." Sam breathed out softly. The best protection in the entire world. He pulled it out, wondering if it belonged to Cas. River stared at Sam who was transfixed with the knife. She had a glimpse into the bag and had seen nothing but salt. How was that an arsenal?

"Rose." The name clicked in River's mind. The Journal of Impossible Things. River had skimmed through it once. The Doctor kept it on his bedside table. There was a picture of this Rose girl there. The Doctor had talked about her sometimes but River had never met her. Until now.

"How do you know that?" Rose asked, bewildered by this bizarre woman. How could she possibly know Rose?

"I'm one of the Doctor's companions. He talked about you an awful lot." River grinned and Rose got excited. Another companion of the Doctor? The only thing more perfect would be if the Doctor himself popped out of the trees offering a way out. With that single introduction the two groups became allies, melding into one large group of four.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Notes: Last day of June, woohoo! Camp NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow so I don't know if I can promise consistent chapters since I'm already running out of pre-written chapters. I'll try my best though! I'd also like to thank everyone for the incredible support you guys have been given me! I was floored by some of the reviews I got! Thank you everyone so much! Please review and enjoy the chapter!**

"Why do you keep dragging me in here?" Donna rolled her eyes. She had much preferred their cozy campsite at the horn. But Castiel had insisted that they keep looking for his friends and had dragged her out here first thing in the morning. Now it was almost night and they had moved so far into the woods Donna had no idea where to start to exit. It was creepy here and she didn't like it.

"I suspect that Dean or Sam will be near here. They always seem to find the darkest places." Castiel informed her. Cas knew that Donna preferred their campsite at the horn but he knew that they would be better off after finding the hunter brothers. He also couldn't leave her there by herself.

"What's this?" Donna brought him to a halt. She ran her fingers over the tree. Castiel came up behind her, looking at what was under her hand.

"We have to go." He took her other hand and began pulling her in the direction they had come from. He knew of course what that meant and he had no intention of letting Donna see those horrors. She however, pulled him back with a sharp movement.

"What does it mean?" Donna stared at the word, trying to figure out how to pronounce it. Numbers were her forte not words.

"It means trouble. We have to get out of here as soon as possible." Cas took both of her hands began to gently tug her towards him as he walked backwards towards where they had come from. He kept her gaze. He had found this method very effective in moving people the direction he wanted. It was some kind of fault that humans had. He spoke soothingly, his voice attempting to draw her in.

Donna was having none of this. She dropped his hands and demanded an answer. She knew what he was doing and knew that this had to be bad. "Croatoan is a demonic virus. It drives humans insane." Cas admitted. This woman was quite unusual to resist his normal coaxing methods. Maybe telling her the truth would get her out faster.

"What about angels?" Donna wondered, her immediate concern for Cas.

"I don't know. I'm mostly human now. We should go before they find us." This time Donna didn't resist the gentle leading hand. She did keep up the questions as they walked.

"They?"

"The people who have been infected. Dean says that they resemble something humans call zombies." Cas didn't think he would ever understand his human friends' references. Sometimes Sam didn't even explain what they were talking about.

"Zombies?" Donna didn't like this one bit. She moved a little closer to Cas. He was the one with the knife while she only had him to defend her.

"It will be best if we find Dean. He's dealt with these before." Cas insisted, not minding her holding his hand. However, if they didn't find a way out of the virus territory soon, it wouldn't matter how safe he made her feel.

* * *

Just as Castiel realized where they were, Martha was trying yet another combination of herbs on her patient. John had attempted to bite her quite a few times but she had managed to avoid it so far. She was really getting nervous at this point. She had tried so many things and yet nothing had helped. If this went on for too long Martha felt it would be irreversible.

After carefully shoving the herbs into John's mouth, she turned to exit the Satan circle. The name had really stuck in her mind so she continued to use it. She was careful not to scuff the paint with the heel of her shoe. The Satan circle was making her feel somewhat more secure about John for some reason.

Martha picked up the sonic out of her pile of weapons. She scanned the circle just to listen to the hum of the machine. She smiled as she listened, reminded of the Doctor and her travels. She rolled it through her fingers. She didn't even have to know how to use it. Its psychic interface put all the information she needed straight into her brain.

"Martha." Martha's head shot up. John was staring at her. "Martha, what's going on?" Martha jumped to her feet, astounded that the herbs had worked. She had hoped of course but she had never thought it would actually work...

"You got infected in the woods. Don't you remember?" Martha bean to unstrap one of John's legs, eager to hear what his mind had made of the experience.

"I remember seeing a lot of red and then I was here." John waited patiently as his doctor began to undo the straps covered in strange symbols. Her steady hands paused a moment as they started on the other leg. She stood up and looked him in the eye.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little thirsty but fine." Martha had to force her eyes not to narrow. The sonic had told her that his insides were being burnt up by the virus. By all rights he should not be feeling well. She pulled the sonic out of her coat pocket and scanned him. Upon receiving the information, she bent back down to his legs.

"Sorry John but you're still not you." She began to re buckle the straps quickly. The scanner told her that the virus was stronger than ever inside of him. This was just some sort of trick designed to get him free. John's body jerked violently on the straps holding him to the semi-vertical table. He screamed at her and Martha moved quickly away.

She stepped up to the front of the cave and looked down. It was quite a long climb they had made up here. She sat on the lip of the cave and swung her legs out,thinking about what else she could do for her fellow army doctor. She had tried every herb withing a mile radius. Going any farther would have risked John. She wished that she had the Doctor or Mickey here with her. She wish she wasn't so alone in this fight.

The sounds of John's screams of vengeance reached her ears and she closed her eyes, wishing it would stop. She opened them slowly and stood. She would give him another couple of days. If he wasn't better by then she was going to have to put the problem down before it got out of hand. Permanently.

* * *

Dean shifted himself. Sitting on the ground was quite uncomfortable, especially in his jeans. The angel blade lay comfortably on his legs while he held the gun in his hand. The fire was warm near his back as he stared out into the woods.

There was a slight shuffle of leaves off to his left. He glanced over briefly. Amelia Pond's legs shuffled the leaves underneath them but she slept on. A grin flitted briefly across Dean's face. If they hadn't been thrown together this way then maybe... No. He had to focus on what was happening. 'What ifs' were a danger to him in this situation.

Twigs snapped in the forest before him. His gun was immediately raised, aiming at the dark space between the trees. All was silent for a moment. Dean's gun didn't waver. A pair of bright green eyes appeared, reflecting the firelight. Dean was about to fire when he saw that the eyes belonged to an enormous red wolf but the creature simply blinked at him. Then it turned and disappeared back into the night.

Dean let out a sharp breath and lowered his gun. That was close. "Are you okay?" A groggy voice asked him. Dean saw that Amy's head was lifted from the ground and her soft brown eyes were staring into his. "You look spooked." She noted, sitting up and crossing her legs.

"Thought I saw something." He excused himself. His eyes caught sight of a leaf tangled in her red hair. Without thinking he automatically reached out to pull it out.

"And you didn't shoot?" Amy had judged him more as a shoot first ask late type of bloke. The professional monster hunting job seemed to support her theory. She flinched away from his hand as it came near her. She was still a little afraid of him though she would never admit it. She knew she had a right to be scared of anyone who killed for a living.

There was visible hurt in Dean's eyes as Amy moved away from him. He pointed to the leaf in her hair and Amy fished it out herself. "Didn't need to. It didn't come into the camp." His opposite hand sweated a little on the handle of the gun. He would have put it down but he didn't trust the woods one bit.

Amy saw the hurt in his eyes and almost apologized. She knew Dean would probably never hurt her, a civilian, but she was still a little afraid. However, Amy Pond was not one known for lying down and just accepting her fears. She faced them head on. She scooted a little closer to the hunter. "Have you slept?"

"Not tired." He knew she would probably insist on taking a watch but Dean wasn't going to take that chance. He also needed her to be ready to spring into action at any moment if they were attacked by something. "Go back to sleep, Princess."

Amy took a deep breath before scooting even closer to the hunter and curling up beside him. The top of her head grazed his leg and for a moment she forgot that he could have snapped her neck in a moment. She drank in his warmth and the comforting presence of another human being.

Dean became rigid with surprise as he looked down at his partner. A moment ago she had been too frightened to let him pick a leaf out of her hair. Now she was curled up next to him. Humans. Sometimes he thought he would never understand. "Goodnight Princess." He told her, putting his hands in his lap to avoid temptation.

"Night Dean."


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Notes: Another Thursday = Another Chapter! Happy Thor's Day for all you Marvel fans out there! Also Happy Fourth for all the Americans! It's been a hell of a day over here. Anyways, I only have one more chapter written after this so hopefully I can get on that before I run out of chapters and write crappy last minute ones... But that's not a concern at the moment! Enjoy the chapter and please review!**

"So if that's the most dangerous weapon, why do you get it?" Rose glanced at the gleaming blade in Sam's hand. Her own hand held tight the extra gun the River woman had given her. It was a good gun but Rose assumed that Sam would probably take care of anything attacking them before she could get a shot off.

"Because I'm the hunter and the other two are psychopaths." Sam's hunter ears listened past Rose's words to try and hear some sort of animal sound. They were out hunting for some breakfast after the long night last night and Sam was personally hoping for something good.

"A psychopath and a sociopath." Rose corrected him, quoting what the dark man had said earlier that night. Rose was new to this hunting animals business so she didn't quite realize that Sam needed her to be quiet.

Sam held a finger to his lips as he looked ahead. There was a flock of birds huddled near a pond. Rose was a pretty good shot after training in Torchwood and she figured she could down maybe two before they all flew away. Sam gave her a nod and she began to fire.

One. Two. Three. Rose managed to surprise herself. She grinned at her partner and said, "Well, what are we waiting for?" The two of them ran over and picked up the carcasses.

"You're a good shot." Sam noted. Their camp wasn't too far away. Sam picked up the two larger birds after shoving the knife into his belt. Rose was left to pick up the remaining one. They began walking down the leaf strewn path, not caring if they made noise anymore.

"It used to be my job." She told him, grinning at the compliment. "Everyone at Torchwood had to be able to use a gun."

"Torchwood?" The name wasn't ringing a bell. Normally Sam knew all about organizations that required its employees to handle guns but this one remained a mystery. He didn't think he had heard anything like it.

"You'd love it there, Sam." Rose grinned as she imagined the field day Sam would have while examining all the alien artifacts and learning the histories of planets and species. She could already see him throwing on a lab coat and beginning to take apart an instrument to see if it was a weapon. She began describing to him all about what her job was like and the things they did.

Sam's eyes lit up as she described all the things he could learn. There were all the alien machines and histories, lore from all around the world translated into English at the press of a button, and the chance to go anywhere in the world on a mission without being stuck in a car for hours. He felt a pang of envy at what she described.

They arrived back at the camp with Sam asking questions about the different races Rose had met. Sherlock and River had just finished getting a good breakfast fire going as Sam dropped his birds beside them. Judging by the feathers, they seemed to be waterfowl. Sam began showing them the best way to skin the birds and prepare them to be cooked.

* * *

After their satisfying meal, they all sat back and began talking about what their next move was. River and Rose wanted to go find the Doctor, for Sherlock it was John, and Sam insisted on Dean. They all argued for a bit on who was the most useful but eventually came to the conclusion that since they had no idea where any of them were, they might as well search for all of them.

"Also, I have this book that tells what all of the monsters in here are." Sam held up the book before passing it to Sherlock. Sherlock began doing a quick skim, his mind filing the information automatically. While he assimilated the information, River asked about what kinds of monsters were here.

"We ran into what Rose says is a Cyberman. She killed it and that's what lost us our weapon. We haven't run into much else but the book says there are Croatoans in here. They're sort of like zombies." He explained.

"Well, let's hope we don't run into any of those." River took the book from Sherlock's hands, ignoring the fact he was only half done skimming. She leafed through it. "Weeping angels. Perfect. And near your zombies too. Let's stay clear of that area." Sam and Rose exchanged a look. Weeping angels?

"Well, this looks dangerous." She finished leafing and handed it back to Sherlock who resumed his skimming where he left off. "I love danger." She winked at the Winchester who swallowed and looked away awkwardly. She laughed at his expression.

"We should move if we're going to find anyone." Sherlock stood and buttoned his coat. He picked a direction that would lead away from the Croatoan/weeping angel hotspot and led them away. Rose gave one last longing glance towards their old campsite. She and Sam had stayed there since the first night and she probably wouldn't see it again for awhile now that they had new teammates. Rose turned her back and followed Sherlock's purposeful back.

* * *

"Doctor, we're lost." Jack berated his friend's sense of direction. Though the Doctor insisted they were still going in the same direction they had started on, Jack knew better. The Doctor had no sense of direction. That's how he managed to get the TARDIS lost half of the time. But Jack followed along, hoping that maybe getting lost would find them someone faster.

"We're not lost! We're just... exploring!" The Doctor fell out of the tree and jumped straight back up, sonicing the branches above him. Jack chuckled at the Gallifreyan's antics before looking upwards at the cliff bottom they were near. There was a cave far above them, a black hole in the side of the rock.

"Do you hear screaming?" Jack asked, straining to figure out what that sound was. It was faint and could have been either screaming or the wind howling in the trees.

"What?" The Doctor yelled down to him. He was half way up the tree again and was surrounded by the black and white birds whistling in his ear. He was trying to determine what they ate by scanning them with his sonic. He wanted to know if there was another food source around here that they could tap into.

Jack didn't respond, listening hard. As he strained he could hear another voice just under the screams, attempting to talk over them. Jack raised an eyebrow. The voices seemed to be coming from the cave of death above them.

"Doctor get down here! We're going climbing!" Jack began to scramble over a couple of large boulders.

The Doctor fell out of the tree again with an oof. "Why? What's up there?" He brushed himself off and began following his male companion up the rocky cliff. He scrambled a lot like a little puppy trying out stairs for the first time.

"I don't know." Jack admitted, trying to make out words to the screams. It would take them a good long while to reach the cave but Jack had confidence that the two of them were needed.

* * *

"Wait up, would you?" Amy yelled at her rapidly advancing partner. Dean had decided that the best way to avoid the temptations the Scottish girl offered was to not look at her. This was hardly sufficient, however, for he began to find even the sound of her accent seductive.

"Come on, Princess." He encouraged. He bent down to examine the ground. There were two pairs of footprints there. One was clearly feminine judging by the shoes shape while the other was probably a man's. The woman and man had been walking side by side away from a tree...

Dean stood to examine what the owners of the footprints had seen. His eyes widened as he took in the word etched on the tree. Croatoan. "Amy!" He yelled, backtracking to find his Scottish princess. Suddenly, she was no where to be found. "Amelia!" He was praying now. He was praying to find her and get her out before the Croats found them. He found her footprints and followed them off into the forest.

The footsteps indicated that she had run for whatever reason. Dean began to run along with them, a knot of anticipation tying itself in his stomach. Where would his Princess have gone? He pushed aside a bush and found Amy leaning against a large tree, out of breath. "Where the _hell_ have you been?" he asked her angrily, furious about his needless worry.

"I thought I heard something. I'm sorry." Amy apologized, trying to catch her breath. She straightened up and looked her partner in the eye, as though challenging him to contradict her.

"This place isn't safe. We have to move." He took her wrist and pulled her off in a direction he thought would lead them away from the virus territory. Amy went along willingly which Dean noted as strange. He didn't, however, question it.

As Amy looked around behind Dean's back she smiled. All according to plan so far. Crowley would be very pleased to here this. Moriarty may also have been pleased but she didn't trust this new man. He was too slippery. Nonetheless, she had her orders and they didn't concern Moriarty.

As Dean pulled her from in front, Amy's eyes turned black, showing the demon inside of her. Her only goal now was to nick that wonderful angel knife that Dean kept so close on his person. Then she could really have some fun.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Notes: Alright I had a very busy day so this didn't get up as soon as I would have liked, however it is still technically Sunday here (It's around 11). I can only tell you to review because I don't think anyone will heed the other usual part of my author's notes... Sorry in advance.**

"This forest is awfully dark." Rose's hand pulled her gun out automatically, not liking the way the shadows were pooling around her. Sam was close by but she knew of things lurking in the dark that even he couldn't protect her from. She felt better with River there as she had plenty of experience with the things Rose fought.

"Something's not right here. This part of the forest should be light. Look at how spaced out the branches are." The other three looked up at Sam's suggestion. He was right. The branches of the separate trees didn't even touch each other. The trees were spaced far apart. By all rights, the sunshine should fill the space not abandon it.

"We need to get out of here." River was the first to realize what was happening. She immediately turned around and began going towards the part behind them that was full of sunshine.

"Why?" Sam asked, unsure of what she was getting at.

"The way she looks at the dark suggests it's some sort of monster. This coupled with the fact that the book mentions a creature that exists in shadow form indicates that this place is swarming with Vashta Nerada." Sherlock followed River immediately. Sam and Rose exchanged glances, unsure of what was going on.

"What are they?" The four of them stepped quickly into the light, staying far away from the shadow infested part of the trees.

"They live in the shadows and eat all sorts of meat." River breathed in, trying to recall everything she had read about them in the book. She had never run across them personally and she was praying that she never would again.

"So, we're a food source to them?" Rose checked. She received confirmation of this from both Sherlock and River. "Well, then let's get going. Don't want to be caught by flesh eating shadows." Rose readjusted the backpack on her shoulders and began to skirt the edges of the shadow hole.

"Stop walking." Sherlock's deep voice made her cease walking. She turned towards him.

"What?"

"How is that possible?" Sam asked, looking over at River who shook her head sadly.

"What?" Rose insisted. River was looking at her sadly and Sam was confused as well.

"It's the way they feed. I'm sorry but you're dead." Rose followed Sherlock's gaze to her feet. Stretching away from her foot was a shadow. Normal, but as she looked to the other side of her, there was another. The Vashta Nerada were creatures of shadow and ate flesh... now they were attached to Rose.

"There's got to be some way to make them let go." Sam insisted, paging through the book to find information on the dark carnivores. He wasn't going to let Rose die. Not like this.

"There's no way." Sherlock insisted. Normally his deep voice soothed those who listened but now it drove Sam to irritation.

"Then we'll find one!" He roared at the detective. Sherlock simply cocked his head slightly. Sentiment perhaps? He would never understand that characteristic. What was the point in deluding oneself that there was a way out of a no win scenario?

"Here." Rose threw the backpack and the gun out into the open. They held one shadow each and Sherlock deemed them safe to pick up. "If I'm going down, no use in taking the supplies with me." She concluded logically.

"You are not going to die." Sam moved towards her, his voice insistent, as though he could change her fate just by believing he could.

"Don't let your shadows cross." River warned as he moved near her. He took the advice although kept moving closer.

"You're going to be okay, Rose. We're going to get out of here and you're going to show me that Torchwood lab." A grin quirked up the side of her mouth. "We're going to investigate those alien artifacts just like you told me right?" She was crying silently now but she nodded her agreement.

"You've just got to hold on until we can get out of this forest. Can you do that?" Sam's voice was low, soothing. It was the voice accompanied by his puppy dog eyes that made you believe that everything would be alright.

"Yeah. Sam, I think-" In the middle of her sentence Rose was covered in a shadow so thick Sam could no longer see her. She screamed for just a moment before the shadows vanished.

"Rose!" Sam yelled, his heart hurting for her. River had turned both her and Sherlock around, not wanting to intrude on the moment of the other two. The shadows around Rose vanished and her skeleton fell to the ground. A cannon fired as Sam dropped to his knees. Her clothes had even been shredded by the vicious beasts which had flown back into their nest when their meat source vanished.

"She's gone. I'm sorry." River put her hand on Sam's shoulder. Sam pushed it off. River took the hint and backed away from the giant. Sherlock blinked as River made a face at him.

"I'm sorry, Rose." Sam hung his head before standing. He scooped up her gun as well as they supply pack. He cast one glance back to the skeleton before shoving his way past the consulting detective, charting a new course. River and Sherlock followed in the wake of the brooding shoulders.

Sam didn't speak the rest of the day. He could only think of his deceased partner. Rose, who had amused him with tales of her adventures. She had reassured him about his brother. She had cleaned his cuts, tearing up her own shirt for him. She was the only ray of sunshine in this hell hole. Now she was gone.

* * *

"You think you can keep this up forever but you can't! I'm going to get free and I'm going to bleed you. I'm going to turn you and together we'll go out and turn the arena. Soon they will be just like us. There will be no one left to stand against us." Insane cackling tumbled forth from the demonic husk that had been John Watson. Martha ignored him and checked her gun. One bullet. Just one.

"Martha, Martha, Martha Jones. The doctor can't heal her patient and it's eating her up inside, inside. You can't ignore me, Martha Jones. I'm in your head, in your head." Martha swallowed. It was getting to the point where she almost wanted to end the man. She had tried everything she could think of to cure him. However, the sonic told her his insides were still crawling with the virus. It was time.

Martha cocked the gun. This man was a threat to everyone in the arena, including Martha. It was high time to do away with that threat. She leveled the gun with his head and it was as though the demon inside of him vanished.

"Martha, it's me, John Watson. I fixed up your head. I carried you away from the horn. Just calm down." Martha hesitated a moment, her finger trembling on the trigger. Was John still in there?

"Martha, don't do this. It's me, John. You told me all about your friend, the Doctor, remember? Would the Doctor really want you shooting an innocent man?" Martha's gun dipped slightly.

"Good. Now, if you'll just untie me, we can talk about this, eh? Like good civilized people. Just undo the straps and we'll go and find the Doctor. We'll go and find him and everything will be fine." As soon as he mentioned being untied Martha raised her gun again. John Watson was gone now. And soon his body would be at rest. She unloaded her last bullet into the skull of her partner with a bang.

The army doctor collapsed at the feet of her partner. The gun fell from her hand and she rested her head on her knees, holding back choking tears. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking deep breaths and trying not to scream in frustration. She didn't even notice when footsteps pounded on the cave floor towards her.

"Martha!" A pair of strong arms came around her shoulders while another pair of hands moved her face up. She found herself looking up into a stranger's eyes. She backed away quickly and glanced round to see Jack behind her.

"Jack." She exclaimed in relief, hugging him tightly.

"This is the Doctor." Jack explained quickly, nodding toward the man with the bow tie.

"Oh my god, of course." She pulled the other man into an embrace, needing the comfort of another soul. She closed her eyes against the mess that was John Watson in front of her. The Doctor hugged her close, knowing she needed his help.

"Alright, we're going to get you out of here and you're going to tell me what happened, alright?" Martha nodded numbly as the Doctor helped her to her feet. "You're alright now. You're okay." He passed her over to Jack who led her from the cave.

The Doctor turned and scanned the bloody corpse with his sonic screwdriver. It downloaded the information on the virus into his brain and he sighed. This hadn't been easy for Martha, surely. He then proceeded to follow the backs of his friends. He breathed in the fresh air of the outdoors and he prayed that no one else in the arena was suffering as they were.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Notes: So this chapter is a bit dull and I had trouble finishing it at all. Honestly, it took me a couple of weeks to write this.****_ SMALL SPOILER AHEAD._********But I will say that this is the calm before the storm. ****_END SMALL SPOILER._**** I only have a couple of days to write the next chapter and I have no idea how well that will go. Anyways, thank you for all the love, support (and tears) that this story has received! Enjoy the chapter and please review!**

"So, what, you two have just been wandering the forest looking for people?" Martha pulled Jack's coat father around her cold shoulders. The forest was becoming cold with the onset of night.

"And climbing trees." Jack lifted his eyebrows and Martha giggled at the implication that the Doctor was a bit of a child. The Doctor wasn't listening, however. He was examining the sonic Martha had brought with her from the cave. He kept comparing it to his own before using them to scan each other.

"What's the problem, Doctor? Two sonics too much of a coincidence?" Martha accepted the bit of meat Jack offered gratefully. It had a strange taste but she continued to eat it.

"This sonic isn't mine." He waved the one Martha had gotten.

"Then whose is it?"

"Well, I should say that it doesn't belong to me. The basic design is the same although there are a few modifications." The Doctor's face crumpled in thought as he tried to figure out who else in the arena would have the brains to build a sonic screwdriver.

"Well, it doesn't matter who made it so long as it works." Jack plucked the screwdriver from the Doctor's hands, earning a squawk of protest, and handed it to Martha.

"So, what do we do now?" She tucked the screwdriver deep into her pocket, assuming it would be needed later.

"Well, we could keep wandering aimlessly looking for people or we could combine the power of our two screwdrivers to increase the range of the life form scan." The Doctor popped a couple of berries into his mouth.

"We'll get on that in the morning. Right now we have to sleep before we start looking." Jack told the pair of them, stretching his arms above his head.

"Right you are." The Doctor agreed.

"Well, then let's get an early start tomorrow." Martha stretched out on the ground, eager for a night's peaceful rest without a deranged zombie screaming in her ear all night.

Good nights were exchanged before all three of them dropped off to sleep, hopeful about the next day and their chances of finding more people.

* * *

"You have to eat." River insisted, shoving a bit of bird in his face. He pushed it away with nothing more than a look. He rested his head on his knees, a vast melancholy surrounding him. He wasn't even reading the book he had taken as he normally did during the night. He just sat there.

Sam Winchester felt guilty.

He now knew how Rose had felt when Greg died. He should have predicted it. He should have seen it coming. If he had been but a moment faster, he could have saved her. If he only could have thought a little bit more she would be alive. Only in his case, there was no one to hug him and comfort him. He was alone with these two who were practically strangers.

If Rose had been there she would have said the exact right thing. She would have hugged him at just the right time and he wouldn't be wallowing in misery. She would have gotten him laughing, telling him stories and joking around about things. But she was dead.

River could see that Sam was hurting, but she had more pressing concerns to think about. She picked up the book Sam was neglecting and began leafing through it, knowing that there had to be something she could do. She almost ripped the pages as she turned them faster and faster with more anger every time. Then she stopped on a page. She blinked slowly as she read it.

A slow grin spread across her face, knowing she had found what she was looking for. However, this would take time. Then the grin fell. There was one other thing that would cause problems. But that was a minor concern. She sighed and closed her eyes. The next couple of days would be quite long.

"Sherlock, dear, could you take watch? I'm feeling a bit tired." Sherlock said nothing, his fingertips being pushed together and closely observed. River took this as a yes and laid her weary head down on the backpack. She wondered where the Doctor was and what he was doing. Was he still alive? Stupid question, of course he was. Hopefully he was sleeping and was with some friends.

Rive yawned and closed her eyes. She tried sleeping but something nagged at the back of her brain. She opened her eyes, irritated at the lack of rest. She scanned the vicinity, looking for the source of her discomfort. She saw nothing and tried to lay down again. Again, she squirmed around, unable to sleep.

Then she saw it. It was Sam. He was staring blankly into the flames. "Sam?" She asked, knowing what was weighing on her mind. "Sam, you need to lie down." There was only silence returning to her. "Sam, her death wasn't your fault. You know that right?" More silence. "Sam."

The hulking figure turned toward her, eyes steely. "Listen, I appreciate that you're trying to help but could you just leave me alone?" He stood quickly and left to go sit in the trees nearer to a silent Sherlock who didn't need to say anything due to being able to read Sam. River sighed and put her head back down. She had tried and that brought her a ticket into a small bout of sleep.

* * *

"Castiel, you have no idea where we are." Donna told him.

"No, I do not." Cas admitted. Truthfully, he was getting worried. Clearly he wasn't that good at being human.

"Let's just camp out here." She grabbed his hand and pulled him down underneath a big tree. "I don't know how to start a fire." She told him and he denied knowing how to either but he did hand her a handful of berries.

"I picked these off of a bush. You need to keep your strength up." He dumped them into her palm, knowing they hadn't eaten very much in the past few days. It was beginning to show on Donna too. She had lost a lot of weight and her eyes had shadows underneath them from sleeping uneasily for many nights. The weight Cas' vessel had lost was much harder to see due to the baggy trench coat he wore over his other clothes.

"What about you?" Donna asked, holding them out so he could have some. The truth was that she was so hungry she could have eaten them all in one gulp but she knew Cas needed food too. Cas looked at them briefly before looking away.

"I already ate some to be sure they were not poisonous." He confessed. Donna's hands curled up around the berries.

"You ate some without me?" She sounded a little indignant.

"I wanted to ensure they would not harm you before you ingested them." He told her again. He had only eaten a couple and was still famished but he knew Donna would need the food more than he would.

"Next time we eat them together." Donna said stubbornly. She held up a finger when he started to protest. "Agreed?"

"Agreed." Cas consented, trying not to look too pathetically hungry as she ate the food. Hunger was a fairly foreign experience and he didn't like it. He knew Donna must like it a lot less, however. Night was beginning to wrap around them, the woods cooing with all sorts of menacing noises. "Are you cold?" He asked her, noticing her hands were shaking ever so slightly.

"Yeah, a bit." She admitted. Castiel immediately took off his trench coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Won't you get cold?" She wondered as she pulled it tighter around her. It still had traces of Cas's warmth inside of it.

"Most likely." He looked away, caught up in some thought Donna was not privy to. That's when Donna noticed how truly tiny he was.

"You're so skinny!" She squeezed his waist, bringing him jolting back to the present. "Are you normally like this? You know, my friend I told you about was skinny too but not like this. Have you been eating enough?" She began to worry.

"I'm fine." He insisted. However Donna thought better of it all. She pulled off the trench coat and wrapped it around the two of them, brought back to their first night. Castiel began to protest but she silenced him quickly. She wrapped her arms around his waist, taking sharp notice of how prominent his ribs felt, before nuzzling her head into his chest. With slow movements, Cas wrapped his arms around her also, feeling the heat rush in.

"You can keep watch." Donna commanded him. "I'm going to have myself a proper rest. Don't go disappearing on me tonight." She warned, her eyes slipping closed.

"I will not." He agreed, puzzling over the strange woman fate had dropped literally into his lap. Donna held onto him tightly, just in case he tried something before falling slowly asleep. Cas pulled the trench coat tighter around her shoulders. "Good night, Donna Noble." He rumbled quietly.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Notes: Have an extra long chapter on me. Don't forget to review!**

"Do you hear that?" Dean whispered to Amy, trying to ignore how closely their backs were pressed together. The gun was steady in his hand and his hunter senses were listening for any sign of life.

The demon rolled Amy's eyes. It had been putting up with this bumbling idiot for longer than she would have liked. However, he had only just given her the angel blade and she needed his help in tracking the remaining players in this game. Despite what it thought of him, he did have well developed fighting skills.

"Yeah, I think it came from over there." She pointed in the opposite direction of where the sound had actually come from. She had heard it as clear as a bell and knew exactly what it was. Now she need this idiot off her back so she could deal with it. Dean glanced in the direction her chipped nail was pointing.

"You sure?" He wondered, leveling his gun with the spot.

"Absolutely." The Scottish accent assured him. The opposite hand twirled the blade impatiently. The slight warmth in the handle had given the demon pause for a moment. It had never held an actual angel's blade before so it assumed that the warmth was a natural trait.

"You stay here." The hunter cautioned her, moving forward towards where she pointed with incredible caution. Demon Amy tried not to laugh at the fact that he was going to investigate nothing purely at its word. The moment he disappeared in the the plant life Amy went on alert.

The knife was twirled again, ready to be put to the test. She crept through the trees, knowing her prey wouldn't be able to escape her. She spun around at the sound of a twig cracking, blade at the ready. That's when she sensed her prey. It was coming closer, just behind her. It was almost within reach but she remained focused on the foliage in front of her.

A groan sounded as the knife began sliding into the stomach of her prey. She covered a mouth with her hand and the eyes looked betrayed as she lowered the mortally wounded body to the ground. She pulled the blade out slowly, knowing that they only had a few moments. She stood triumphantly over the twitching form a small smirk flying across her face.

She had managed to kill the mighty Castiel himself.

* * *

Earlier

"What the hell is that?" Donna stared with wide eyes at the creature in front of them. Castiel could only gape. Donna shook his arm, trying to wake him from the disbelief that she had never seen on his face before. She felt more than a little frightened by his sudden loss of words.

"It's an angel." Donna glanced from the very real man she was holding onto so tightly, to the creature before them.

"An angel like you? How can that be? It's just a statue." Donna looked at the hands covering the face and traced the outlines of the wings. "Hang on, do you have wings too?" The statue unnerved her more than a bit, especially since Cas hadn't even blinked since he first saw it.

"Yes, but that's not important. When a human dies, its soul goes to either heaven or hell. When a monster dies, its soul goes to purgatory. Where do you think an angel's soul goes?" Donna raised an eyebrow, not quite sure what he was implying.

"Are you saying that when an angel dies, it becomes a statue?" The dying part would explain why the angel appeared to be crying. But why would an angel turn into a statue when it died?

"Not exactly. An angel has the ability to travel across universes. When an angel is killed, their soul travels through universes and houses in one of these statues." Cas felt sad as he realized something about the angel. He knew the soul inside of it.

"Why statues though? And why is it here of all places?"

"It's only a statue when you look at it. The moment all eyes are off of it, it animates. The soul takes over the stature and it can move. Sometimes it transports people back in time. Sometimes it kills them. But if you're looking at it, it can't move."

"But why would it transport people? And why would it kill? You don't seem like a crazy psychotic angel statue to me." She glanced over her companion, wondering where the wings were that he had mentioned.

"The soul is driven completely mad when the angel is killed. They do those things to send messages to the other angels as well as their killers. A message of revenge. Of course, what they don't realize is that none of the angels can hear them because they're in a different universe so they keep pointlessly killing and transporting people, hoping some angel will hear."

"So," Donna thought out loud. "When you die, that's what you'll become? A statue whose only goal is to kill innocent people?"

"Inevitably yes." Donna finally noted the look of sadness on his face.

"What is it?" She wondered.

"I knew this angel. His name was Samandriel." Cas's eyes were soft as he remembered the childish vessel the powerful being had taken on.

"What happened to him?" Donna asked, looking over at the cold rock.

"I killed him."

Castiel froze, hearing the sound of voices just close by. "Do you hear voices?" Donna listened for a moment and confirmed his suspicions. "Wait here and watch the angel. Don't blink." He warned her, moving away from her as she fixed her stare on the statue.

"Don't you dare leave me here!" Donna warned, afraid to glance at him, lest the statue come for her. "Castiel! Please come here!"

"I will be back in a few moments." He assured her, vanishing into the trees. Donna was rigid as she watched statue, praying that her angel would hurry up and stand watch over her again.

* * *

"Amy! What the hell?" Dean first saw his distressed looking partner before seeing what she was looking at. Cas was lying on the ground, bleeding out from a stomach wound. A slow trickle of angel blood fell off of the knife and Amy was staring at it with surprise.

"What did you do?" He growled, pushing her aside and picking up a semi-conscious Cas and slapping him awake. "Hey, Cas, buddy, stay with me."

"He just came out of no where." Amy sounded frightened and confused. "I spun around and he was right behind me and I didn't know it was him. Oh god-" She cocked, holding a hand to her mouth. "Dean-"

"LEAVE!" he roared at her. She scampered away in fear and Dean didn't feel bad for yelling at her at all. "Cas, can you hear me?"

"Dean..." came the faint reply, the voice of a dying man.

"Cas, no, come on, man. We only just found each other. Come on, you got to wake up and help me find Sam. The three of us, team free will, remember?" Cas's head was lolling, obviously straining to stay alive long enough to tell the hunter something. He gripped the hunter's jacket tightly though his hold weakened with every breath.

"Dean, my partner, Donna. You have to find her. Angels-" Blood began leaking out of his mouth and Dean wiped it away in earnest.

"Yeah, Donna, got it. I'll find her Cas. But you're coming with me, okay? You're gonna be fine. Don't be such a baby." He shook the angel, knowing that it was futile but praying that somehow he would live. "Didn't you hear me praying? I promised you that we would get out. And we will."

"Didn't... hear... prayers. Not... angel." Cas coughed, spraying Dean's face with the sticky warmth of his blood. Dean didn't even bother to wipe it off, he was focused on the angel's words. He knew that Cas had lost his angel juice but he had stilled hoped Cas would hear him. He had thought if any angel could ever hear him pray anywhere, it would be Cas.

"Dean... the girl..." Cas's breathing was wheezing now.

"The girl, Donna, you mean?" Dean said quickly, trying to get out whatever information he could before the angel passed on.

"No, yours..."

"Amy?"

"Not Amy... demon..." Dean froze. Amy? Possessed?

"You sure?"

"...Yes..." Cas's eyelids were fluttering, his ability to live dwindling rapidly.

"No, Cas, stay with me. Come on, Cas, listen to me. You've got to help me on this one. I can't do it without you."

"Dean..." Cas pushed weakly on his chest, knowing what would happen next. Dean let him get a little ways away but still kept his arms around him.

"Cas, it's okay. I'm here. You're going to be alright." Dean couldn't stop the tears that were welling up in his eyes. "Cas..."

"Dean, I-" Before he could finish, light exploded from his face causing Dean's eyes to snap shut in earnest. There was a painful burning sensation up Dean's torso and right shoulder. Despite all of this, he held onto Cas as though his life depended on it. When it all stopped, he felt his soul almost snap in half.

Cas was dead.

* * *

Donna heard a twig snap behind her. "Castiel, is that you?" She called out. "Cas, if that's you this isn't funny. Come where I can see you."

"Sorry, Cas isn't coming." Donna was so surprised she forgot her command from the angel and spun to see the feminine voice that had spoken to her. Another red head stood there, this one with a long blade and coal black eyes.

"Tsk tsk. If I wasn't watching that angel right now, you'd be dead." The woman commented, her eyes on the statue.

"Where's Castiel?" Donna prioritized. Worry for the skinny little angel filled her up.

"Watch your tone with me, bitch. Or I might just... blink." She did just that and Donna felt a stone arm come around her neck. A strangled cry erupted and the red haired woman laughed.

"Cas is dead. Killed him myself." The woman smiled. When she had blinked, her eyes had returned to normal and Donna was more than a little disturbed by this chain of events. "Oh, Donna, Donna. The woman who can't keep herself out of trouble. Not even with an angel standing watch over you could you stay out of trouble."

"Castiel was my friend." She spat, trying to wriggle out of the tight grip of the angel but knowing it was futile.

"You know that's not the angel I'm talking about." Donna paused, looking at the woman. How did she-?

"Yes, I know all about your Doctor man. He wiped your mind, he saved you, and even then you couldn't keep out of trouble. Well, you won't have to worry about it anymore, Donna dear. Your time is up."

"What do you-?" The demon turned it's back and heard the telltale snap of Donna's neck. Knowing that the angel wouldn't kill demons due to Crowley's influence on the arena, she was allowed merrily on her way. She decided to go and take out Dean. Castiel had probably already told him what happened and she didn't want him on her ass.

She found him soon enough, holding the dead angle tightly to his chest.

"Is he?" She put on a shuddering voice as Dean stood and moved away from the body.

"Yeah, he's dead." Dean's voice was hollow, as though someone had torn a gaping hole in his heart. "And soon you sill be too." Before the demon could react, Dean threw holy water across its face causing the flesh to sizzle. It screamed with surprise, doubling over in pain.

Taking advantage of it's pain, Dean took the knife from it and held it against her throat. He hated doing this to Amy but he knew that it wasn't Amy anymore. The demon, recovered, laughed.

"Dean Winchester. More brains than I thought." It sneered at him.

"You and I are going to the cave I arrived in. I saw some toys in the back that I think you'll love." Dean growled in Amy's ear, ignoring the distinct cinnamon smells coming from the ginger locks. This was going to be quite tricky.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Notes: SORRY! Sorry everyone for not updating on Thursday but my great grandmother died so we took a surprise trip out of state for her funeral. There was no wifi and my mom forgot to pack half of the laptop cord so I've been trying to catch up on my novel and update this at the same time. Then of course it was my brother's birthday tonight so we were celebrating that and... ugh... Well, here's the next chapter. Enjoy and please review! Again, sorry!**

"Well, well, after a lot of struggle in this arena, it seems we finally have eliminated half of our contestants." Crowley's voice rang loudly throughout the arena. In the gray hour just before twilight, the remaining eight people looked up at the sky. Half of them dead already?

"Thank you all for being so ruthless bloodthirsty. You've been quite entertaining." Sam felt fury rising up inside of him as he listened to Crowley speak. Was this really all some sick form of entertainment to him? Rose's death was nothing more than another scene in some horrible movie?

"In honor of our most recent deaths, we've decided to show you who has died so far. Please pay attention as this is the first, last, and only time dead players will be announced." High above the arena, where it could be clearly seen by hunters, time travelers, and consulting detectives all, a screen came to life in the sky. On it showed the face of the first one to die in the sick demon games.

"Clara Oswald." Crowley announced. "Killed by our next individual, Irene Adler." Clara's picture faded out. The Doctor had buried his head in his hands at the announcement of Clara's death. Martha had wrapped an arm around him in comfort but he barely felt it. It had been his job to protect her and now she was dead, gone from the world forever.

"Miss Irene Adler, the naughty girl, was killed by Jack Harkness in an entertaining shoot out." Sherlock blinked up at the sky, not sure what emotions were coming up inside of him as he stared up at the face of The Woman. He knew she had probably killed Clara in order to survive. That was always her first mission, out in the other world as well as in here. Survival.

"Next we have Miss Charlie Bradbury who was killed in a rock slide. Unfortunate, really. I liked her." Dean felt his knees go weak as he slid down to sit at the mouth of the cave, staring up at the picture of Charlie floating in the sky. Charlie. Dead? A pit opened up in his stomach. He felt as though his little sister, so suddenly thrust upon him, had been taken just as suddenly.

"Greg Lestrade was the next to go. Electrocuted by a cyberman. Nasty way to go." Crowley commented. Sherlock felt a prick of sadness as he saw the man's face float in the sky. Sherlock kept a very small world and Lestrade had been very much a part of his small circle of allies. He would probably miss having the Detective Inspector bumbling around on his cases.

"Rose Tyler. Pretty girl. Eaten alive by the Vashta Nerada. Gruesome." Sam couldn't bear to look up at the sky while the Doctor stared up in horror. Rose Tyler. She had been in the arena? His Rose? He suddenly found himself with a lack of oxygen. His Rose. Now dead. Martha squeezed her arms around him tighter while tears poured down his face. Rose.

"John Watson. I understand he was infected by the Croatoan virus and then shot by Martha Jones. That was fun to watch, her trying to figure out if there was any way to save him but eventually giving up." Sherlock jumped to his feet as he saw the face of his friend floating in the sky.

"John?" he called out, scarcely able to accept what he was hearing. Within moments, disbelief was filled with anger. It was an intense burning anger that filled his every thought. He disregarded the thought that this Martha Jones was the one that killed him. It was Crowley and Moriarty that had put them here. And he would pay them back for it. They could be sure of that.

"The Winchesters' pet angel was offed next. Castiel. Killed by a demon. Really fun, that one." Sam shot up the same way Sherlock had.

"No, not Cas. Cas!" He screamed into the sky. Not Cas, no it couldn't be. Not Cas. He had come back so many times for the dead, he can't really have been dead this time. He squeezed his eyes shut and began praying. "Castiel, if you can hear me, please tell me this isn't true. Cas, please, tell me you're alright."

When no response was evident, Sam collapsed back onto the ground in shock. Cas was gone. There was only one more dead person left. Was it Dean? Could it be Dean? No, Sam would know if Dean had died. Dean _couldn't_ be dead. There was no way.

"And lastly we have Donna Noble. Killed by a weeping angel. That's all for now folks. Enjoy the final rounds." The pictures vanished from the sky and Dean had to haul himself up from the floor of the cave. He was so relieved inside he couldn't stop a smile from spreading across his face. Sam was still alive. His Sammy. He was out there somewhere, still fighting to live.

"What's wrong, still missing your pet angel?"A sarcastic Scottish accent brought Dean back around. His face was hard again as he observed the demon hiding inside Amelia Pond's meat suit. "Aw, is little Dean missing his little brother too? Well, don't worry soon both of you will be together in Hell."

Dean splashed holy water across the beautiful face, causing it to sizzle and her to scream in pain. He clenched his teeth, reminding himself that it wasn't Amy screaming. It was the demon inside of her. He splashed her again just for good measure. The demon was right though, he did miss Sam. And Castiel's death had burned Dean in more than one way.

When Dean had felt pain across his torso and past his right shoulder, it had been just at the moment of Castiel's death. He lifted his shirt to look again. Onto the skin of his chest had been burned the print of Castiel's wing. Each feather was clearly outlined forever onto Dean's flesh.

Dean pulled his shirt back down, feeling the loss of Cas keenly. He turned back to Amy, his brow furrowed. "Why don't you and I have a talk about Crowley?" He suggested, beginning to mix salt and holy water in a container. The demon watched with little concern but on the inside Amy Pond was screaming, praying Dean would remember she was there too.

* * *

River quickly moved away from the dull embers that had made up the trio's fire that night. She knew her destination and knew that she couldn't tell Sam where she was going although it was likely Sherlock already knew. She held her gun tightly in her hand, wary of any creature that might try to ambush her on the road.

Once she thought she had gotten farther away the camp, she began to unload the items in her possession. They had been a little too easy to collect and River suspected that someone controlling this game wanted her to do this. She began drawing on the ground, preparing everything she needed.

"I know what you're doing." A deep voice cause her to jump around, gun pointed at the source of the sound. Sam Winchester stood there, looking very serious. He had been unusually grim since Rose had died and hadn't said a thing since he realized that angel friend of his was truly dead.

"You know I have to do this. You saw how many people were up in the sky. The field is narrowing down much too quickly. This is the only way." She told him, not lowering her gun. She knew this was her only chance.

"You know I can't let you do this." His eyes were pleading, begging her not to make him stop her. She sighed. Sam, taking this as a denial of his proposal, began moving towards her, not believing she would fire on him. He only got a little closer before he fell back with burned hole in his chest. He fell to the ground with a large thump and a canon fired over head.

"I'm sorry, Sam. This is the only way." She turned back to her preparations and finished them quickly. She lit the elements in the bowl on fire and opposite from her in the blaze appeared a man in a suit.

"Hello, dear." He greeted. This wasn't the voice of Crowley. This was the other man, Moriarty. But from what River had read, she was sure Crowley was speaking through Jim's lips. She dropped her gun to the side, knowing it would have no effect on the demon. Besides, she wasn't here to kill him.

"I want to make a deal." She asserted, moving around the summoning ritual and towards the demon.

"Clearly." Crowley said sarcastically, his words somehow still fitting in Jim's mouth.

"Can you do it? Can you make someone win with a deal?" She asked eagerly leaning forward.

"I can't make any one win. But I can get them to the final round. But the thing is," Jim's body began to pace around the curly haired archeologist. "how do you propose to pay for getting yourself to the top? My normal price is your life. Getting you to the final round would be kind of pointless if I would take your life soon after." Crowley rationalized.

"This deal is for someone far more important than me." She told them, staying perfectly still like a cornered animal.

"Oh!" The pieces fit together in the minds of the consulting criminal and the demon. "You want to save your precious Doctor!"

"If you can keep him safe until the final two people, he can get himself from there." River wasn't begging, she was almost demanding.

"And you would give your life in exchange for this man?" They asked, sensing a deal in the offing.

"Always." She replied seriously. Crowley moved Jim's face into a smile.

"Well, you know we seal the deal with a kiss."

"I'm aware of the procedure." She said coldly.

"So, what shall we say? Three more days and the hell hounds come for you and I will save your precious Doctor until he makes it to the final two. Do we have a deal?" River moved forward and pulled Jim's mouth to her own.

Finally they broke apart and River finished, "Deal."


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Notes: Surprise! In celebration of my birthday which was on Monday, I give you both chapter nineteen and chapter twenty! Woohoo! Enjoy and review!**

"Doctor, where are we going?" Martha asked again. Usually he was too busy listening to the hum of the two screwdrivers to hear her question but she nearly shouted it this time. Jack gave her an amused glance and she rolled her eyes at him. The Doctor paused a moment before changing the direction they were walking by a couple of degrees.

"Sorry, what?" He asked, waving the sonics in opposite directions. Martha had to restrain herself from groaning.

"I asked where we were going."

"Oh right!" He remembered, darting around a tree. "The sonic picked up a human life sign. Should only take us a day and a half to get there."

"Only one? No partner?" Martha wondered, feeling bad for whoever it was stuck with out a partner.

"Yeah, one life sign,and no other life signs near it. I am getting a faint reading of two life signs farther past that one. One human and the other part human part Time Lord." He rubbed a spot off of one of the sonics, forging on ahead.

"Part Time Lord?" Jack interrupted. "Doctor, you sly dog." He winked at the back of his friend while Martha could only gape.

"No, no!" The Doctor protested. "She's not mine. Well, she's my wife but, no! Exposure to the time vortex made her DNA part time lord. It had nothing to do with me!" The Doctor rubbed a hand through his hair, pocketing the sonics.

"Your wife? Didn't think you were the type for settling down." Martha noted as the Doctor slowed enough to walk with the other two.

"It's complicated." The Doctor summed up.

"Any other life readings in the area?" Jack asked, wondering where the other contestants in this gruesome game were hiding out.

"Yes, two more behind us. They're about two days away. It's weird, one was human but the other one..." The Doctor rubbed his hands through his hair again, his mind still unsure what to make of the weird readings the sonics had given him about the other individual.

"What was the other one?" Martha asked curiously.

"I don't know. It was like it was partly human and partly... Well, complicated." He tried to avoid the question, knowing what other odd questions the answer would raise.

"Part what, Doctor?" Jack insisted harshly. He's had enough of these games now. That other individual could be a threat if it was something dangerous. Martha and Jack had a right to know what was out there.

"It was weird. Some sort of life force that is made of air or smoke." The Doctor tried to simplify it so that they would understand but it came out sounding mad.

"Smoke?" Martha tried to confirm. Living smoke? What kind of sick games were these people playing with them?

"Like I said it's complicated." All three of them could agree on that point. This bizarre arena was enough to give anyone a headache. The three of them discussed it as they moved along towards the closest life sign. Little did they know that this human was not a contestant

* * *

River glanced back at Sherlock who hadn't moved since last night. She had scarcely seen him blink. She had tried talking to him, telling him her cover story as to why Sam had died, and insisting that they need to move along. He didn't move or speak. He just sat there, thinking.

"Sherlock, dear, we need to get moving. If we want to find the Doctor we have to get going." She insisted once again, tugging on his arm. Surprisingly, he turned to her this time.

"Why would you swap your life for only a chance of someone else living?" He wondered. River doubted that this was the reason he had been thinking this entire time but she decided to humor him.

"Wouldn't you do the same? Your friend, John Watson, would you give your life to protect him?" This was an interesting question to Sherlock. Would he? Then he saw the flaw. John was dead. The question was irrelevant and he told her so. "Then what's been bothering you?" River went ahead recklessly.

"Something about the arena is wrong." He said vaguely, standing to go and examine a tree. "It's not quite right." River went up behind him and examined where he was rubbing his long fingers over the tree. Shew didn't see anything wrong but she supposed he did.

"What's wrong with it?" She asked, touching the spot, thinking maybe the wrongness was somehow in the feel of the tree instead of how it looked.

"The color." He spun on his heel and walked away, staring up at the sky. "The colors are all wrong." River's eyebrows raised.

"There's nothing wrong with the colors, dear." She assured him. All the colors looked fine to her.

"No, no, no. They're all wrong. And edges. They aren't right. Can't you see?" He grabbed her by her arms, looking into her eyes as though trying to determine why she couldn't see what he could see. "No, you can't. Hmm." He released her and began marching away through the tree line.

"Where are you going now?" River asked, exasperated. Clever men were always the most exhausting to take care of.

"You said we needed to get moving." He called back to her, not stopping or slowing. River first gaped before rolling her eyes and throwing the pack over her shoulder. She hurried after him, wondering how anyone could put up with him all the time.

She caught up to him in a relatively short amount of time as he had stopped in the middle of the path holding one of the whistling black and white birds that sometimes woke River in the morning. He studied its wing carefully and River simply waited.

"Well?" She asked.

"Look here." He showed her the wing. She looked at it. It was very ordinary.

"I don't see anything." Sherlock pointed at a tiny white spot on the tip of its wing. "So?" River asked in confusion.

"Ah, now wait a moment." He released the bird into the air. He threw himself on a tree and scaled up to the top quickly. He was back down in another moment, another bird in hand. He showed her the same wing. "Do you see?"

"It looks the same." She commented. What on earth was he driving at?

"Exactly." He threw this bird back into the air.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked with very little interest. He seemed to be grasping at the tiniest detail and blowing it out of proportion. It made no sense to River's mind.

"I don't know yet." Sherlock set off in the opposite direction again. River tried to restrain herself from shaking him to ask what was wrong with him. She controlled herself before setting off after him again.

"Listen, we need to find the Doctor. If anyone can get us out of this, it's him" She insisted.

"How do you propose we find him?" Sherlock asked, a bit rudely. During River's silence he said, "Exactly. You have no ideas. So we keep wandering. I say we do something a little more creative."

"And what would that be?" River asked.

"We find the edge."

"The edge?"

"Yes the edge, didn't you hear me?" River made a face at him but he continued anyway. "They called this an arena. That implies it's not a natural formation. What do man made things have?" He encouraged her.

"Edges." She realized, catching on.

"And what would be beyond that?"

"The real world."

"Now you're getting it."

* * *

Some few miles away from the traveling Doctor and his companions was the human life sign they had picked up. Sure, he was human. Maybe he didn't feel like it or act like it, but his basic anatomy was indeed, very human.

He was a killer. A wonderful killer actually. He had killed more people in his time than most people could dream. And yet he was still a secret to many people. The shadow in the corner of a room. A very large shadow, granted. A very dangerous shadow.

He wasn't on the move. He stayed perfectly still. He had been told that if he stayed here, his targets would find him and he would get paid. They had offered him incredible amounts of money to start taking these people down.. Sure, it wasn't his usual territory but he didn't think that mattered much. The money was still excellent.

The Golem stretched his long arms over his neck. He was told Sherlock Holmes was in the arena as well. What he wouldn't give for a second chance to take down that child. He thought he was so educated in the ways of the world but he barely scratched the surface of the underground world. He would never go as deep as the Golem. The shadow of a man who could squeeze anyone to death.

And he was loose on the arena.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Notes: Surprise! In celebration of my birthday which was on Monday, I give you both chapter nineteen and chapter twenty! Woohoo! Enjoy and review!**

"Alright, let's try this again. Why is Crowley putting all of us through this?" The demon rolled Amy's head around to look up at Dean. His face was serious. It was the face of a man who had seen hell. Literally. She swirled the fluids around inside of her mouth and spit blood into his face. He barely flinched. "Suit yourself." He flicked holy water across her face, causing her flesh to sizzle.

Dean turned and went to examine his pile of equipment. He had the angel blade, holy water, and enough salt to supply a chain of restaurants of a year. He was hesitant to use the knife, only a few nicks here and there. The holy water he had splashed her with every now and then and had her swallow enough salt to set her insides boiling.

His face was impassive as he turned back around to look at the demon. Blood trickled out of her mouth and into her hair. Dean's face may have been emotionless but his insides were boiling. He was furious with Crowley, with this demon, with everything. Why didn't he see this coming?

"If you won't talk about head honcho Crowley, then tell me about Amy. How long?" He wondered, picking up the blade. He spun it around in his hand, the traces of blood on the tip were clearly visible.

"Oh, poor dear. You want to know if there even was an Amy Pond or if it was me the whole time?" She made a pouty face as though addressing a small puppy dog. "Aww, baby thought he found himself a new playmate, huh? You and your princess gonna make some royal babies?"

Dean's hand was around her throat before he could even stop to think. The knife cut Amy's cheek and the demon hissed in pain. Dean felt enraged and it was showing now. Trying to control himself, he trailed the knife under her chin, letting his hand drop. The demon may have been taunting him but deep in the corner of his mind maybe he had hoped... No. No time for that now, Dean. He scolded himself.

"Just answer the question." He growled, cutting her a matching slice on her other cheek, earning another hiss.

"Of course you met the real Amy. I had to flaunt her in front of you, didn't I?" Dean felt relief flood his system though it didn't show. Amy was real. It wasn't all the demon. His princess really was in there somewhere. "Oh, baby, she's still here. I know you want to put a hole in _my_ belly but you wouldn't want to ruin this gorgeous body, would you?"

Dean dropped his angel blade and picked up a bag of salt. Would Princess Amy understand? He wasn't sure. He hoped so. He prayed so. He had to know what was happening in the arena. It was time to end this silly game. He had heard a cannon shot earlier. Another contestant down. He couldn't risk it anymore. Sammy could be still out there, counting on his big brother to help him. He had to take every chance for Sammy. For Sammy.

"Ah, ah, ah." As Dean moved towards the demon with the salt, it began to protest. It could see the change in Dean. He wasn't going to let Amy's body stand in the way. That was okay. The demon had another trick up its sleeve.

"Wouldn't you like to see your beautiful princess?" It taunted. Dean didn't stop. He was pouring the salt into a flask. The demon was meant to drink it. Holy water went in next. Yikes. "Well, she's been screaming to see you. Come on down Amy Pond!" The demon screamed into the quiet cave before retreating to the subconscious, letting Amy save the demon some pain for a while.

"Dean?" Amy couldn't believe what she was seeing. She was back! Her body was hers again! Sure she was tied down, but that thing had gone! Dean would surely release her now! "Dean, what's been happening?" Dean advanced on her with the salt but stopped when he saw the look in her eyes.

"Amy?" He wondered quietly.

"Dean." She confirmed, staring into his gorgeous green eyes, just as when they had met. Dean was just as frightening then but now Amy knew him a little better. A lot better, in fact. They had talked. Dean had told her about his job, about his brother, his angel... The angel! "Castiel. I killed Castiel." She realized, horrified. "And that Donna woman. I killed them." Her mouth fell open in horror.

"Amy." was all Dean could say. He took her face in his hands and contented himself with looking into her eyes. It was his Amy, safe and sound. His princess was alright. "Amy." He couldn't stop saying her name, it tasted sweet in his mouth after all the bitterness that had been thrust upon him.

"Yeah, it's me, moron. Are you alright?" She wondered curiously. It was as though something in his mind had broken. All he was doing was staring at her and saying her name. His hands were trembling as he held her face. Amy thought of the blank spots in her memory during the times that thing was inside of her. What had it said to him?

"Dean, what's been happening? I couldn't control myself. It was like there was something inside of me. What's going on?" She was a little scared of the lack of response he was giving. He was smiling now, relief on his face. He kept smiling as he released her face before seeming to remember something and become somber again.

"It was a demon." Amy stared at him in disbelief a moment.

"A demon?"

"Yeah and it's not gone. It's still inside of you." He seemed a little sadder now and Amy wondered why.

"Yeah, but it's under control. I'm myself again. Untie me, you dope." She demanded.

"No, that thing could take control at any moment. I've seen it before. I can't let you go, Amy. I'm sorry." Amy gave him a confused look. "The demon is stronger than you. I can't risk Sammy."

Amy stopped pulling on her restraints. She understood his concern for his little brother. And she told him so. He smiled at her, a sad smile that hurt Amy's heart. "So, a demon, yeah? How do we get it out?"

"We don't." Dean said haltingly, beginning to arrange his torture instruments into an orderly fashion. He hated to tell her, but he needed to know why they were here. Maybe, just this once, he could save everyone. Everyone left anyways. Maybe this time...

"Excuse me?" Amy asked indignantly. What was his problem? Amy may not have been a hunter but even she knew that having a demon inside of her was not a good thing. Dean could do something, she was sure of it. It would remove the threat from the arena and from her. Everything would be fine. Why didn't he just get rid of it?

"The demon knows something. It has to know about why we're here." Dean explained, accidentally knocking over the angel blade as he tried not to look at her.

"You're using me to interrogate this demon?" Amy's expression was completely serious. Dena forced himself to look up at her and wished he hadn't. Her face was enough to shake his belief that this was right.

"If I can figure out why we're here, I can put a stop to it. I can save everyone." He insisted, trying to convince himself just as much as her. He felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. Could he really do this?

"It's okay, Dean. I understand. But is this the right way?" She wondered, unsure of the answer herself. Dean's expression was pained, as though he didn't know what to do. Amy didn't either. Dean was probably right, finding out why they were here was important. But was it worth trading Amy's physical health? Possibly her life?

"I don't know." Dean swallowed hard, turning around from her and running his hands through his hair. "I just don't know anymore."

"Dean." He turned slowly to face the ginger princess. "Come here." He slowly advanced towards the bloody woman. He hated seeing her like this. He had done this. He had tortured again. She leaned towards him to speak. "You do what you have to." Dean's eyes shut of their own accord. There were still vague smells of cinnamon in her hair.

Without his permission, his lips began moving. "Exorcizamus te omnis immundus spiritus..."

"Dean?" Her body was shaking as the demon began to rise to the surface. Amy disappeared beneath it as it screamed at Dean. "DEAN!" Amy screamed once more as she was submerged.

"Omnis satanica potesta, omnis incursio infernalis adversarli, omins legio, omnis congregatto et secta diabolica." The demon was screaming now, shouting vile curses in his direction. Dean opened his eyes to look at it as he continued the chant. "Ergo, draco maledicte. Ecclesiam tuam securi tibi facias libetate serveri, te rogamus, audi nos."

The demon inside Amy screamed with laughter. Dean's eyes widened as no black smoke poured from her mouth. The demon laughed at his expression, its smoke darkening Amy's eyes to its color. Dean stepped back a pace. How was this possible? How does a demon resist exorcism?

"It's still you and me, sweetheart! You'd better play nice now, because I know now how much you really like this girl!" It was yelling the words at him. Dean stood there, barely absorbing what it was saying. Did he say something wrong? Did he not know it as well as he thought?

"If you try too much I'll bite her tongue off! You wouldn't want that would you? How else are you going to kiss her? Not much fun, is it?" Dean found himself with his hand at her throat again.

"Get out of her." He growled, a death threat in his eyes.

"Or what?" The demon moved its head forward to tickle Dean's ear with Amy's lips. "Little Dean has a crush. He wouldn't hurt her now. Even now, your meat suit is sweating because I'm too close."

Dean yanked his head away. Amy's demon smiled at him, it's eyes still coal black. Dean wanted to throw up. What was he supposed to do? Amy had said do whatever was necessary, but did she even have any idea of what that meant? Dean swallowed hard. Amy had said to do it. It was time to really go for the information extraction. He just hoped his princess could forgive him.


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Notes: Thank you all for the support you've been giving! With the last update we had over 200 views! I'm floored by the response you're giving! Thank you all so much! Enjoy the next chapter and please review!**

"We're getting really close!" The Doctor exclaimed excitedly. The sonic beeped faster and faster as they approached where the life sign reading was coming from. The Doctor was jittery with excitement, eager to add another person to his group. The more people he collected, the more he could keep an eye on and the more he could keep safe.

"Doctor there's no one here." Jack remarked, looking around at where the sonic had finally lead them.

"No, that can't be right." The Doctor huffed, waving his sonic in the air. It maintained its stance that they had arrived at the place where the life form readings had originated. "It says they're here, check around. Maybe they're hiding under a bush or something."

Just as the Doctor made his statement, a gigantic man seemed to fall out of the sky. He crushed Jack beneath him and Martha whipped out her gun, automatically training it on the assassin's head. Jack had split his bullets with her so that she had only a precious few left. The man's long fingers seemed to be crushing Jack's face.

"Get away from him!" Martha demanded loudly. The Golem's head swiveled slowly to look at her. He stood, again slowly. He approached her with cautious footsteps and Martha kept her gun on him. "Now, I'm warning you, stay back." She tried to sound brave but her voice shook.

Just as he got close enough to make her worried, her finger squeezed the trigger. The bullet flew out half a second too late. The Golem had smacked her hand causing the bullet to go askew. He reached out and caught her neck with his long fingers, choking off the air supply. Martha couldn't even get a cry out before the Golem's hand snapped quickly around, creating a loud crack.

The body of Martha Jones slid lifelessly to the ground. The Doctor screamed her name. A cannon sounded. The sky began to spin and spin. Jack tried taking breaths but it was no good. He wasn't having a nightmare. This was reality. And he was really going to die this time. He sagged back against the nearest tree, trying to stay calm but nothing was helping. Most certainly not the man who appeared out of thin air.

"Hello boys." Crowley glanced at the dying Jack before turning back to the Doctor. "It's your lucky day, mate. Someone's made a deal to keep you in the game." Crowley snapped his fingers and the Golem exploded into a heap of bloody flesh on the grass. "You see they sold your soul so that you would get into the final round so until there's only two left standing, you're protected."

Trying to ignore the horrible carnage around him the Doctor focused on another question. "Why? Would do that? Who would sell their soul for me?"

"Who do you think?" Crowley replied cryptically before vanishing into thin air. The Doctor blinked at where he had been standing, wondering how anyone could move so fast before darting over to Jack. Jack's hands were held to his chest and as the Doctor pulled them away he saw more amounts of blood then could have been safe.

"What happened? Did he have a weapon?" The Doctor wondered, applying pressure to the wound before using the sonic to examine the internal injuries. He kept his disappointment in the readings in his head, putting a smile on the outside. "You're going to be fine." He lied. Jack only had minutes, and they both knew it. One look into Jack's eyes and the Doctor found the fake smile slipping away.

"It was Martha. The shot missed that guy and hit me." Jack's eyes were going in and out of focus as he tried to look at the Doctor.

"Come on, Jack! You have to live! You're Mister Never Die! Oh, that's a rubbish title, forget that." A weak smile flitted across Jack's face.

"Doctor, Rose is dead. I'm just going to go say hey." He tried to make it sound as though he wasn't afraid. But he had died so many times now and come back to life. Now he was falling into that pit of sleep but he wasn't going to wake up. Not this time.

"Oi, no flirting with all the angels. I'm sure they won't like that." The Doctor joked, squeezing Jack's shoulder, his eyes filling with tears. Not two more. He couldn't handle two more deaths. And not Jack. Not Jack of all people. Jack was always supposed to be there. He was supposed to be the friend the Doctor could never get rid of. That no one could get rid of. Not Jack.

"Just try and stop me." Jack's cheesiest grin stretched across his face before freezing. His eyes glazed slowly, his death grip on the Doctor's grip loosening before failing altogether. His hand hit the ground with a final thump as the cannon fired. The Doctor stared at him in blank horror. Two more gone. Two more lost.

"NO!" He screamed, burying his head in his hands. Martha and Jack, gone. They weren't coming back this time. The Doctor felt himself shaking, not with tears but with anger. He stood, the tears still visible on his dirty face. He looked all the more threatening with the various twigs sticking out of his hair.

"Oi, now you listen up." He shouted at the sky. "I'm coming to get you. Don't think about running because I will catch you and I will tear you down. Don't bother with prayer because nothing is going to save you now. I'm going to come for you and there isn't one damn thing you can do about it!"

He stood fuming, before puling out his sonic screwdriver. He flicked it open and searched the surrounding area for the two life signs he had picked up before. Now they had moved, around past the Doctor towards where he had just come from. They were headed in the direction of the other human and the air based life form. Fine, the Doctor needed them altogether anyways. Whoever was left was going to take on these demons. The Doctor wouldn't let them win.

* * *

"This way!" Sherlock yelled, rounding a tree and ducking beneath a branch. River followed him quickly, almost tripping over his heels. Snarls traveled quickly behind them, and River felt her eyes darting around to try and see them. Sherlock didn't bother to look, he kept his eyes firmly on the road ahead.

"Why are they chasing us?" River yelled at him. Sherlock didn't answer. He merely grabbed her hand and yanked her in the direction he wanted to go.

"Did you shoot one yet?" Sherlock demanded impatiently. He didn't let go of her hand, preferring to keep her close in case she did something stupid. Her dominant hand waved the gun around on the other side of her, trying to keep balance on the slope they were ascending.

"Shooting while running isn't easy, dear!" She yelled at him, firing off one shot behind her. She hit it in the stomach and it yelped as it tumbled backwards. Its fellows swarmed over it, hardly noticing their fallen pack mate. River let off a couple more shots which went awry before Sherlock released her hand to kick back a log they had just jumped over.

The log rolled down the hill and tangled the beasts' legs. They fell on top of each other trying to avoid it as it came for them and Sherlock shoved River towards a tree. "Climb!" He shouted, scrambling up the tree adjacent to hers. River obeyed his command automatically, her arms and legs moving practically of their own accord.

They breathed heavily once they reached as high as they dared. The creatures snapped and snarled at the bases of the trees but couldn't reach them. They turned their heads at a signal from their commander and began to prance in the opposite direction. River hung her head in relief while Sherlock focused on getting oxygen into his lungs.

"Were those the hell hounds?" River gasped out, hoping Sherlock had the answers. Had they come a day earlier than expected?

"Those were the wolves from the beginning of the arena. They didn't want us going near the edge." Sherlock began analyzing. "Moriarty wants a show. He's pushing us closer to the other contestants. The wolves don't care about us. They're pushing us towards other danger, presumably another dangerous contestant."

"Well, geronimo." River said, beginning to climb downwards. Sherlock raised an eyebrow as he mouthed 'geronimo?' before following her lead. He kept a sharp eye out for any of the contestants he had mentioned. He knew that the 'game makers' wanted contestant vs contestant so that they could all destroy themselves. They were smart but hopefully Sherlock was smarter. He could still think his way out of this.

"Hey, clever boy! This way!" River called from out of the trees. Sherlock sighed at the nickname before following her. They had come a considerable distance seeing as they had been chased the entire night. Sherlock also suspected that the arena was literally shrinking to keep the contestants close together. There was no way they could be back near this cliff side if the arena was its original size.

"This is where we came in, do you remember?" River nodded at the rocky face.

"Yes, but we were several miles that way." Sherlock pointed south. "Although by now it should only be a single mile."

"What are you talking about?" River wondered, trailing her gun on a fat and very unfortunate bird that came too close. Another bang and the creature died, providing the two with well deserved meal. "One last supper, eh?" River joked, picking the bird up.

"If we can't stop the hell hounds." Sherlock affirmed. He sat himself on the ground, ready to sit and wait as River did the work while he thought.

"Oi, you up." River hauled him up by the arm. "You're going to help. I'm not cooking my last meal by myself. Go get some wood. I'll be here when you get back." She commanded. Sherlock seriously considered telling her off before simply huffing and obeying. "That's better, dear. Now, clever boy. How do you want your bird cooked?"


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Notes: I have had a fantastic past two days. My friend and I locked ourselves in her basement and we watched Supernatural for two days. Thus, I think studying the boys might help me to get them more in character. For this story and the other, you understand. Anyways, enjoy and review!**

Dean was woken from his fitful doze by a sudden scream. The angel blade was in his hand as he jumped up and surveyed the cave. "What? What is it?" He asked urgently, seeing no reason for the girl to have screamed. He sighed as he turned back to her.

"I just got bored." The demon excused, smirking. The demon, despite torture that would cause most people to be screaming out their darkest fears, had given no information on Crowley to the man. Dean was tiring quickly. He wasn't quite sure of what to do anymore. He couldn't go any further without causing Amy's body permanent damage and he couldn't exorcise the demon either.

"Aw, what's wrong baby boy? Feeling down? Want a kiss? I'm sure you want a lot more than that but unfortunately Amy's a little tied down at the moment." Dean flicked holy water on her out of habit. He had no idea what his next move should be. His creative ideas never ended but he didn't want to end up killing Amy. In fact, that was the last thing he wanted.

"Let me talk to Amy." He demanded, trailing the knife along her jaw. The demon smirked at him.

"What for?" The demon brought Amy's face in close to his again, knowing how much pain that gave him. Dean's response was to slice a ragged gash across her arm. The demon hissed and screamed. "Fine. Keep your pants on." The ginger head dropped only to come up very slowly.

"Dean?" The mouth murmured, the eyes not yet opened.

"I'm here, Amy." he told her, taking her hand. Her eyes fluttered open slowly before looking down on his. "I can't get the demon out and it won't give me the information I need." He explained to her, massaging her hand with his thumb. Amy didn't even feel it, her limbs numb from the extreme pain.

"You've been pretty persuasive so far." Her head lolled again and Dean held it up with his other hand. His expression was pained and she picked up on it quickly. "Yeah, I saw. You were enjoying it a little too much if you ask me." Dean's hand shook as he held her face. Of course the demon had let her see it all. Of course Amy had to see the side he tried so damn hard to bury.

"What do I do, Amy?" His voice cracked as he said her name. "Tell me what to do." He was begging now, his other hand moving up to her face. He was so confused by the demon, by the arena, by his feelings for Amy... None of it made any damn sense and he couldn't take it anymore. He needed someone to guide him.

"This demon... it's dangerous, yeah? I mean not just to me and you but to everyone out there?" Dean nodded, tucking a strand of bloody ginger hair behind her ear. "Then there's only one thing to do."

With the straps on her arms, Amy could barely move her hands. But she didn't need to move them far. She grabbed tight to the edge of Dean's jacket and pulled his body closer. He looked down at her hands, surprised as one went towards his hip. His heart beat sped up until it was pumping so hard he was sure she could hear it.

"Do it." She whispered, removing her hands. Dean looked down at them again. Her hand was holding the blade of his knife, hilt upwards. "Get rid of it. For your brother. For the Doctor, wherever he is. For you. For me. Everyone will be safer." She pushed it at him and his hand grabbed it automatically.

"Amy, I can't." He insisted, his knuckles white on the hilt. Her hand came around his, pointing the blade at her stomach. "Please don't make me do this." He begged, his opposite hand massaging her face. "There's got to be some other way. We can fix this, dammit." Even he didn't believe his words.

"Dean. The demon's trying to take control. You have to do it now." She insisted, her hand tightening on his. "I can't control it for long. Please." Dean couldn't stop the tear from escaping his eye. It fell from his eyelash, landing on their hands. "Dean." Dean's eyes shut as he felt his arm move forward. The blade slid through flesh and Amy's hand stiffened on his.

"Goodbye, princess." He whispered. The bright light signifying the demon's death jerked her body. There was no trace of Amy left in those eyes now. Just the surprised looking demon. It hadn't thought Dean would kill it. He liked Amy. Wasn't that part of his whole hero thing? Saving the innocent?

The light went out in the eyes just as the cannon fired grimly over the arena. Amy's head fell forward one last time. Dean pulled the blade out slowly, letting it clatter to the floor. He began unstrapping the body, letting it fall into his arms. He lowered her to the floor. Brushing away strands of ginger hair, he let himself look into the face of Amelia Pond one last time.

"Dammit, princess." He swore, cradling her head. An empty pit in the middle of his stomach opened wide and he bent over with the pain of it. He rested his head on hers, praying that he was still asleep. Praying he didn't really kill her. Hoping against all odds that he would wake up to that stupid demon there and Amy still alright.

But there was no such relief. He was alone. Again. It was just him in the firelight. He and Amy Pond were separated forever now by the one thing he couldn't fight. Death. "I'll make them pay, princess." He promised her, unable to say her name. "I'll make Crowley pay. He won't get out of this."

He laid her body down slowly, arranging it so that her hands were folded together on top of her lifeless corpse. He pulled down one of the torches that had been fixed to the side of the cave. He had lit them when evening began to come on. Now it was nearing midnight and the only other source of illumination was the moonlight which stopped just before Amy's body, keeping her in shadow. He picked up the knife next and reinserted it into his belt.

"I'll get them, princess." He repeated, moving past her towards the mouth of the cave. He glanced back, pained at having to leave her like this. But he didn't have any lighter fluid to give her a proper send off. _When _he managed to catch up with Crowley, he would come back and burn her. Until then, he supposed this was the safest place for her.

Dean turned his face towards the brisk wind blowing over the forests below. A vengeful hunter is one of the most dangerous things in creation and Dean Winchester was most certainly vengeful. And he was most certainly dangerous. Crowley had better watch out because Dean was coming for him.

* * *

Sherlock looked upwards as the cannon fired. Another contestant down it would seem. That left him, River, and two others. Four contestants out of the original sixteen. And soon it would be three. River was curled up against him. She had wanted one last nap she said. Sherlock had promised to keep an eye out for her hell hounds. They were due at any moment.

River shifted slightly, deep in sleep. Sherlock's gun rested just beside him, ready for the action that was sure to arrive at any moment. Sherlock looked up at the moon. It would be very soon. He wrapped his arm tighter around River as she shivered in the cold night.

Sherlock was curious to see what these hounds of hell would look like. He had been reluctant to accept that aliens and demons had existed in the first place but now... Now he had choice but to believe. It was illogical to deny the evidence before his eyes. He had every evidence before him and denying it would get him no where.

There was every possibility of aliens. There were billions of stars out there. It was not hard to imagine that one of them was capable of producing life long before Earth, thus the superior technology. It made perfect sense.

Demons and monsters were harder to wrap his head around. However, there was always that spark of life in the brain that scientists had been unable to artificially duplicate or even understand. He suppose this could be a soul and tortured manipulated versions could become demons. It was hard to wrap his head around.

River gasped as she straightened up. Sherlock's arm released her as she stared wildly into the trees. "What is it?" Sherlock asked, scanning the trees. He saw nothing but the way her eyes darted about... "The hell hounds?" He urged her, shaking her arm to get her attention.

"Yes." She said quietly. From the way her eyes moved Sherlock guessed there were about twenty or so. More than they had anticipated. "I can't run. But you can." She looked at Sherlock. "Run and run, as fast as you can." She stood to face them and Sherlock mirrored her action.

Howling and snarling came from the trees and Sherlock could hear the heavy beat of invisible paws racing towards them. "Run!" River shouted, pushing him away. "Run you clever boy!" River gave him another shove and Sherlock felt his legs beginning to churn as he darted from their campsite.

He stopped cold at a blood curdling scream from behind him. He only hesitated a moment before turning around and running back. "River!" he shouted once, doubting he would get a response. He didn't. He sped up, knowing he was probably too late but not really caring. He burst into the campsite too late. Much too late.

River's body was convulsing with the savageries the hounds had inflicted on it. She was holding her guts in with both hands but it was clear from her limp position that she was dead. Sherlock noted the stampede of footprints around her body but still didn't see a single hound. Perhaps they were invisible to all but the ones they were sent to kill.

Sherlock sat beside the corpse, taking one hand from the bloody mess. He felt for a pulse but knew there would be none. The cannon had fired the the midst of the howls. River Song was dead. He settled instead for examining her hand. It was covered in her blood but it was cold. That was odd. Both the hand and her blood should have been extremely warm. The body wouldn't turn cold so fast, even in the chill night air.

Sherlock's mind was spinning as it tried to make sense of it. An ordinary person would have shrugged it off but Sherlock Holmes was no ordinary man. He felt the rest of her, finding the cold all over her body. His hands became soaked with her blood but he scarcely noticed. He ruffled his hair in thought, some of the blood staining the dark locks.

"Oh." Sherlock's eyes widened in realization. Of course. It all made sense. All the little pieces fit together perfectly. He jumped up, excited, before realizing he had no one to relay his discovery to. Didn't matter. He shrugged the thought aside. He picked up his gun which he had left for River. He had some killing to do.


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Notes: Awful busy at my friend's house for the weekend so I only had a few minutes to put this up. Review and enjoy!**

Dean's hand was tight on the angel blade. His hunter's senses were at their peak in the dark night. He prowled silently through the trees, a deadly predator coming to kill. His blood ran hot with anger at Amy's death. There had been another cannon shot a few minutes ago. Another down. Three left in the arena. Three people left that hopefully Dean could turn to his army. He would need help taking down these stupid game making demons.

His head cocked as he heard a noise far to his right. He was moving instantly, racing off through the trees but nothing more than a shadow. He snuck around the maker of the sound, coming up behind them. It was a man with a gun. He was disappointed that it wasn't Sammy but he didn't have time to lament that now.

Dean maneuvered around silently so that he could get close. When the man was distracted by a noise farther away, Dean pounced. He was on top of him in a few moments, his taller figure giving him the advantage in the fight. It only took one quick cut across his cheekbone to prove he was indeed human and not a demon.

Dean jumped off of him quickly, holing his knife in the air to show he meant no more harm. The man was up an instant after him, gun leveled with the hunter's head. Dean backed off slowly, trying to calm the man. He hadn't fired yet so that was something. Instead he looked vaguely curious.

"Sorry, I had to check that you weren't possessed." Dean explained. The man cocked his head.

"You're the brother of Sam Winchester, are you not?" The man asked and Dean's head began to spin? He knew Sam? Perhaps he knew where he was! But before Dean could ask the man dashed his hopes. "I'm sorry but he died." Dean's world began to spin. Sammy... Sammy? Dead?!

"How the hell do you know that?" Dean's face was furious as he now pointed his knife at the man.

"I was with him up until he died. He was shot by a woman named River Song. She's dead as well. My name is Sherlock Holmes." Sherlock introduced himself, not moving his gun but acting perfectly civil.

"Listen, we can get out of here. We need to kill that S.O.B. Crowley and save whoever's left." Dean asked, trying to ignore the anguish he was feeling inside of him. A little voice inside of him was screaming that it didn't matter. Sam was dead. Who cared anymore?

"I'm going to save everyone." Sherlock told him, lowering the gun slowly.

"Oh, yeah?" Dean asked sassily. "And how's that?" Sherlock's gun came straight back up and fired. Dean didn't have a moment to react before the bullet smashed through his school. His body thumped to the ground, empty and lifeless. Sherlock went to it quickly and grabbed his hand. Cold.

A cannon fired overhead. "One more." Sherlock assured himself, moving in the direction he had been heading before the Winchester had jumped him. Sherlock had tucked the knife away into his jacket. He didn't know who was left or what it would take to kill them. He needed every weapon he could get his hands on.

The only part about this next battle that he could assure himself of was that it would be one on one. Then the hard part. The final round wasn't whoever the remaining contestant was. It was what followed them.

* * *

The sonic whirred as the Doctor scanned ahead of him. There had been a rash of deaths tonight. It had kick started with that smoke life form and then River. Dear River. His wife. She was dead. There was no one else that would give off both a human and Time Lord reading. River was dead.

Then there had been one more death, one of the two remaining humans. The last one was on a course right for the Doctor. Whoever it was was very close. The Doctor was very wary. That second life sign had only flickered out after meeting the one that was coming for the Doctor. A killer of some kind. Whoever it was, it had to be a contestant. The Doctor had counted the cannon shots. Only one other person remained.

The two geniuses, the last surviving members of the Demon Games began to converge on each other. Neither said anything as they saw each other. They both entered the large clearing in silence. Sherlock had his knife pointed at the Doctor and the Doctor had his sonic pointed at Sherlock. They stared each other down, both knowing who the other was. They knew they were the two smartest people that had entered the arena. Now they were the only two living.

"We don't have to do it like this." The Doctor said as they circled each other. Sherlock said nothing, reading the Doctor. "We don't have to play into their hands. We can make it out of this together. Please, no more blood shed." The Doctor stopped circling as did Sherlock. He leaned down, placing his sonic on the grass.

Sherlock was wary as he placed his knife on the ground also. The bright moon shining down on them made it almost as bright as day. "See, no harm." The Doctor held up his hands, a smile fixed firmly in place. Maybe he and this man could make it out of here alive.

"You're the Doctor." Sherlock stated.

"And you're Sherlock Holmes. We can get through this together. What do you say?" The Doctor stuck out his left hand, noting that Sherlock must have been left handed due to the fact he had been brandishing the knife with his left hand. Sherlock extended his left hand also, gripping the Doctor's tightly.

"You are a remarkable man." Sherlock commented. The Doctor giggled like a little boy.

"I've been told so." He said without modesty.

"And I truly am sorry." Sherlock said. The Doctor looked confused.

"Sorry? For what?" Sherlock's dominant hand whipped out as his left hand held the Doctor tightly. The bullet fired up through the Doctor's head faster than he could blink. The cannon fired once again and Sherlock released the Doctor's hand, letting him fall backwards onto the grass.

It was done. He was the final one standing. Sherlock Holmes, the world's only consulting detective had dominated the arena. He had killed the great Dean Winchester. He had outsmarted the Doctor, the Earth's ancient protector. He alone stood victorious in the end. Sherlock Holmes, the man who survived when no one else could. The winner.

As though someone had switched the lights on, sunlight replaced moonshine. Sherlock blinked in the sudden daylight, trying to keep his wits about him. He snatched the angel blade back up while keeping the gun in hand. Here was the tricky part.

"Oh, Sherlock, dear. Someone's been naughty." Sherlock turned to see two men standing behind him. Both wore cool smiles and both were smartly dressed in suits. Sherlock held his weapons tightly at their appearance.

"I don't believe we've been introduced. Crowley, King of Hell." said the unfamiliar one.

"Now, now." Moriarty said to him. "No need. He knows who you are. In fact, I'd say he's figured out the game!" Jim looked excited and pleased.

"What do you mean?" Crowley wondered.

"Oh, it's no secret that Sherlock is my favorite. The rest were ordinary. Even your hunters. They were rabid dogs but Sherlock here is smarter." He looked the tall man up and down. "And sexier. The only one who really came close was the Doctor. But even he didn't stand a chance, did he Sherlock?" Moriarty teased. Somehow, though he was only human, he seemed much more frightening than the king of Hell.

"If you know I've figured it out, you know my next move." Sherlock warned.

"What is he talking about?" Crowley asked again, a little out of his league with these geniuses and their silent communication.

"Go ahead, Sherlock. No one's stopping you." Jim invited, waving a hand. "See you soon, sexy." Crowley looked back and forth between them, unsure of what was happening. Sherlock dropped the angel blade on the ground. "Do it!' Jim encouraged, smiling madly. Sherlock tried not to swallow as he lifted the gun.

He placed it inside of his mouth, trying to regulate his breathing. He was right, of course. Had he ever been wrong on something so important before? No. So this was no time to doubt himself now. It was time.

"DO IT!" Moriarty screamed at him. He pulled the trigger. Sherlock Holmes was dead before he hit the ground. The cannon shot sounded for the last time over the arena. The two suited men looked down at the body of the consulting detective. "Clever boy." Jim rolled the name around in his mouth. "I rather like that."

"Why did he do that?" Crowley asked, tipping his head to look down at him.

"Isn't it obvious?" Jim wondered, looking at him. Crowley shrugged. "Demons. You never stop to think do you?" The two vanished from the old Hunger Games arena. The last two bodies completed the collection. No one had survived the Demon Games. There was no champion. Sixteen contestants and not one could escape death.

Not even Sherlock Holmes himself.


	24. Epilogue

**Author's Notes: See end.**

Dude, wake up." There was a thud as a body hit the floor. The disgruntled person peaked their head up above the bed.

"What?"

"Time to go." The man who had shoved the sleeping person went into the bathroom to clean up before the road trip. The other man stood slowly, stretching out. There were several pops in his joints before his arms swung back to his sides. He followed the other man into the bathroom, grabbing up his toothbrush.

"I assume you want whiskey with your breakfast." The taller man said, glancing down at the other.

"Shut up, Sammy." Dean Winchester elbowed his little brother in the ribs. As he spread his toothpaste on the bristles of his toothbrush he felt a little out of it. He must have been sleeping extremely hard.

"I'll go pick us up some breakfast." Sam grabbed his coat from the chair before leaving the room. Dean spat the toothpaste back into the sink. It must have been a very long night. Dean was already thirsty for something alcoholic.

* * *

"Martha, are you alright?" Mickey poked his head around the corner into Martha's bathroom.

"Fine. Why do you ask?" She wondered curiously. She continued cleaning up the toothpaste she had accidentally gotten on the floor.

"Well, you're crying." He observed, moving his hand to wipe the tears off her cheek. Martha looked down at them in surprise.

"Why am I crying?" She wondered aloud.

"You tell me." Mickey said, looking into her eyes.

"I dunno. I mean, what's there to be sad about?" She couldn't think of any explanation so she shrugged it off. "It's probably nothing."

* * *

"Space Florida! Haven't been there in a long time!" The Doctor flipped a switch on the TARDIS and it shook in response to his command. Clara grabbed onto the railing as the machine shook around them. "Hope you've got a swim suit!" The Doctor commented, bouncing towards the TARDIS' wardrobe.

"Doctor, wait!" Clara stopped him. He spun around to face her, still looking excited.

"What? Don't want to go? That's okay! We can go somewhere else. The planet Barcelona, maybe! Oh, that's a classic!" The Doctor's head filled up with all sorts of places he could take her instead. Although he was a little disappointed.. He had thought Clara would want to go to space Florida.

"No, Doctor it's not that. It's just, you're crying." Clara came over to him and swiped a hand across his cheek. When she withdrew it, it was easy to see the tears glistening on her fingertips. The Doctor frowned before feeling his cheeks. She was right.

"Why would I be crying?" He wondered.

"Are you sad?" Clara wondered.

"No, I don't feel sad. I feel disappointed." The Doctor confessed.

"Well, we can still go to space Florida.' Clara took his hand, smiling. Maybe that would cheer him up.

"Yeah, that sounds good." The Doctor agreed, still puzzling over his wet cheeks. Why did he feel so disappointed? It wasn't in Clara or even in himself. He just felt... disappointed. "I'm sure it's nothing." He dismissed.

* * *

"John!" Sherlock jumped from his bed and raced out of his room. He flew into the kitchen as fast as he could, skidding to a halt when he saw his flatmate preparing breakfast. "John, are you alright?" He asked, checking over the other man who looked puzzled.

"Yes, I'm fine. Sherlock!" He protested as the other man began to knock on his forehead. "What's wrong with you?" John wondered, pushing the other man away. Sherlock sighed in relief.

"Nothing, John. Everything is as it should be." Sherlock wandered into the drawing room, collapsing into his chair. He had been right. He had done it. Everything was okay. Except for the fact that three or more universes had collided to create one new Earth that was twice as strange as any of the old three had been before.

But that didn't matter. Sherlock was keeping himself and John far away from all that. He wasn't going to go looking for the Doctor or those dangerous Winchester brothers. He doubted they would even remember him. And that was all good and fine. After all, it had all been in their heads.

* * *

Amy sat bolt upright in bed. Her breathing was incredibly heavy and her hands went straight to her stomach. She blinked rapidly, trying to remember why she was so freaked out. She was in her bed, in America where she had been trapped. But, why was she crying?

Amy lifted her hand to her face to feel the tears seeping down her face. Last time she had been crying and not knowing why, the Doctor had been erased from her memory. Had she forgotten something again? Something so incredibly sad that all she wanted to do at that moment was curl up under her blankets and sleep forever?

She bolted up out of bed. She had forgotten something, something important. There was no other reason for this gut wrenching sadness. She darted around her little rented apartment, picking up various objects to throw into a bag. This was something that involved the Doctor. It had to be. That was the only other time it had happened.

It was a connection between her and the Doctor and that was a way for her to get out of America. She could get out of here and back to Britain, maybe even back to her own time and the Doctor. Nothing was going to stop her now. Amy Pond had been awakened.

* * *

The car door slammed behind Dean as he climbed back into the Impala. Sam clambered in on the other side, situating the book he had been reading. Dean revved the engine and Metallica started blasting through the car. Sam's hand automatically went to turn it down.

"Hey, hands off the music, shotgun." Dean slapped his hand away. Sam turned to give him a smart ass remark before he saw Dean's face.

"Dude, what's your problem?"

"I just don't want you touching my music!" Dean protested, looking back over at him. "Sam, are you crying?"

"You're crying!" Sam pointed at his face and Dean's hand went upwards to find a thick coat of tears on his face. Sam mirrored his brother's actions, finding fresh tears on his own face. "What the hell?"

"I don't know man, but do you feel like something is really wrong?" The pit in Dean's stomach kept yawning wider but he couldn't think if why. It was as though he had lost something. Something important to him.

"Yeah, I feel depressed. I don't know why." Sam was very confused and not at all happy that Dean didn't know why they felt like this.

"Let's just drive." Dean insisted, pulling the car out of the motel parking lot. He had had enough weird for one morning. Whatever was causing this emptiness inside of him was probably something important. And if it was dangerous they didn't need to look for it. It would find them, just as trouble always did.

* * *

"So, we combined three worlds into one. We turned our enemies against one another so that they'll never work together in the process of distracting them. But just in case ,we wiped their memories of that dream world. And what do we get for our troubles?" Crowley turned to Moriarty, demanding an explanation.

"What we get, my dear, is the most powerful weapon anyone has ever created." Jim closed the lid on the power source. It began to heat up, creating a bright white light. "A mad man." Jim finished, opening the chamber to let out their new weapon.

* * *

**Author's Notes: I would like to thank everyone again for their continued support of this story! Some specific thanks have to go out to the things that inspired my story. There were two gif sets and a video that inspired/ went along with my story. If you'd like to see them, you can just send me a message and I'll send the links.**

**Again, thanks to everyone for their love and support in this story! I couldn't/wouldn't have done it without you!**

**But my final question for all of you is: Do you want a sequel?**

**UPDATE:**

**There is a confirmed sequel as thanks for all the support this has gotten. Stay tuned to my profile for information or contact me on tumblr. My username is flyingwiththewolves.**

**Thanks again for your love and support!**


End file.
